


Oogie's Revenge

by PerkyGoth14



Category: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-30
Updated: 2013-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:33:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 18
Words: 27,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2581592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cherry returns to Halloween Town after hearing that her husband and daughter had never heard of or celebrated Halloween and she chooses that place as the perfect spot to celebrate the holiday. After reuniting with Jack Skellington and wife Sally, not to mention daughters, Hexa and Miriam, Cherry's family has the time of their lives up until they hear Oogie is out for revenge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was a dark October evening, there was a luminous full moon out and many children were getting ready for trick or treating. Cherry walked in the music room of her new home where she lived with her husband and daughter. He was playing away at the keyboard with gloomy, dooming music which he and Cherry both admired. Cherry walked over with a blade, Forte sensed her presence and turned to her.

"Good evening, Cerise." he smirked at her.

"Evening Charles," Cherry raised the sharp, cold, iron blade. "Lovely night it is..."

Maestro's eyes widened. "Cerise, what are you-"

Cherry grinned maliciously and charged toward him. Forte gasped and ducked under his organ bench for protection, but then opened an eye to see Cherry was carving a pumpkin. Forte got back from underneath and dusted himself clean.

"Cerise, what are you doing with that pumpkin?" Maestro asked.

"Making a Jack O Lantern, what else?" Cherry asked as she finished carving and showed a terrifying face on the vegetable.

Forte shuddered at it. "Looks a little scary."

"Well duh, what's Halloween without a little scare?" Cherry looked at him.

Forte exchanged a glance. He looked at Cherry like she had lobsters crawling out of her ears.

"Hallo-what?" Forte raised an eyebrow.

"Halloween," Cherry corrected. "You know, Halloween. It's when you dress up in costumes and go to stranger's houses for candy! It can be scary."

Forte still didn't understand and he tilted his head.

"You never heard of Halloween?" Cherry asked.

"We're in the 18th century now, Cerise, Halloween isn't invented. If I remember correctly, we won't have Halloween until about 100 years later." Forte explained to her.

"You mean after being on Earth for 300+ years you never stopped to celebrate my favorite holiday?" Cherry glared at him.

"I had better things to do, remember?" Forte smirked, remembering he spent 300 years of his immortal life looking for her to beg for her forgiveness of a certain Christmas incident.

"Oh, sorry Charles, you should still celebrate Halloween, it's my favorite holiday of all time," Cherry replied. "I love it more than Easter, or Thanksgiving, and even Christmas!"

Forte shuddered as she brought up Christmas.

"Sorry Charles."

"It's okay..."

"It's late, when Thomas comes over for a visit, he and I can help show you and Flick the wonderful holiday known as Halloween." Cherry smirked.

Forte smirked back at her as his heart pounded. "Shall we get to bed now, mon cherie?"

"Might as well." Cherry took his hand and the two went across the hall to their bedroom.

Forte chuckled darkly as he threw her into her bed and they began to share love, burying each other under the toasty warm sheets while surrounded by bitter coldness of the weather and lack of heat in their little cottage. Cherry wanted Forte to keep his distance from her, but he continued to make love with her anyway and even kissed her to weaken her as she kicked him several times. The next morning, Forte woke up alone and woke up to the scent of honey baked ham. He put on his robe and went downstairs to follow the scent and saw Cherry in his tail coat, cooking breakfast for him and Felicity.

"Happy Halloween, cher ami." Forte hugged her from behind.

"Happy Halloween, my fate worse than death." Cherry cracked a smile as she spiced the ham and put it in a plate with a serving of sunny side up eggs.

"So, this Halloween thing?" Forte asked, sitting down, taking his plate from Cherry.

"You probably wouldn't need a costume, Charles," Cherry snickered at him as she got Felicity's breakfast. "If you walked around in modern time around now, people would think you were the Phantom of the Opera."

Forte glared at her as she said that. She in return, stuck her tongue out at him and continued Felicity's breakfast.

"Bon matin!" Felicity slid in the kitchen on her socks, still wearing her night-gown.

"Felicity, no sliding in the house!" Forte scolded.

"Sorry Papa." Felicity climbed up to her seat as Cherry walked over with breakfast. "Merci, Maman."

"You're welcome, child." Cherry replied, then made her own breakfast plate.

"Felicity, sweetie," Forte turned to his daughter, resting his head on top of his withering hands. "Your maman is going to show you something very brand new to the both of us."

"What's that, Papa?" Felicity asked.

"A holiday in which they call Halloween."

"What's that?"

"You'll find out tonight apparently, your maman also says you'll need a costume."

"I'm sure your brother will be happy to make it for you." Cherry sat down and joined her family.

"I'm excited!" Felicity chirped, putting her hands together. "Maman, can I be an angel?"

"You can be anything or anyone you want on Halloween, my dear."

"I'm so excited!"

Later on, Cherry did some cleaning and wore her Gothic outfit while Forte was in his traditional maestro clothes. Thomas came over eventually and he was excited to show his foster-father and half-sister the Halloween treat. Thomas was a lot like his mother and considered Halloween to be his favorite holiday like hers. Thomas had sewn Felicity an angel costume and manufactured a little golden halo for her. Felicity came out in her brand new costume to show her parents.

"Well, how do I look?" Felicity did a spin with a smile.

Forte smiled at her. "You look sweet and innocent," he turned to Cherry while she emotionlessly wrote Gothic Horror poetry. "Just like your maman."

"Huh?" Cherry lifted her head as she noticed she was being mentioned.

"So Mom," Thomas spoke up after giving Felicity a little grocery bag to keep her candy. "If Dad and Flick live in the 18th century, how are we gonna show them a real Halloween?"

"I know a place not far from here that I've seen when I was younger," Cherry replied. "I thought it was a dream, but the next Halloween after that one, I looked to see it was real, but I didn't go in. They haven't seen me since I was 10 years old."

Forte's eyes widened and his mouth opened suddenly. He had met Cherry when she was 10 years old and that felt significant to him. She had most of her adventures when she was that age after all.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a quick dinner and movie, Cherry led her family into the deep part of the forest. Her arm was linked with Forte's as Thomas held Felicity's hand and they were walking around. They came across several trees which had designs on them with different holiday characters.

"A long time ago, longer now than it seemed, in a place that I could've sworn I had just seen in my dreams," Cherry explained as she walked along with her family. "But the story that I endured, took place in the holiday worlds of old."

"Mom, where do holidays come from?" Thomas asked.

"Well, I say it's time you begin to find out." Cherry turned to him and went to the door with a pumpkin on it.

"Where are we going?" Thomas got a little scared.

"Maman!" Felicity cried.

Cherry opened the door and showed her children and husband as they looked with awe that the tree was a doorway.

"Watch your step." Cherry advised.

Thomas took Felicity's hand and they both climbed in as it got very dark and they both wondered where they could be.


	2. Chapter 2

"Where are we...?" Thomas took Felicity's hand and gently climbed into the tree as music swelled in a suspenseful tune. Both siblings wondered what it all could've meant as they wandered inside.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Cerise?" Forte asked, feeling anxious for his foster son and daughter.

"Relax Charles, I've been through this place before." Cherry replied.

Thomas and Felicity walked further, and stopped as they saw ghoulish ghosts appear before them.

Ghosts: Boys and girls of every age  
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?  
Come with us and you will see  
This our town of Halloween

This is Halloween, This is Halloween  
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night  
This is Halloween, Everybody make a scene  
Trick or treat til the neighbor's gonna die of fright

It's our town, everybody scream!  
In this town of Halloween

Monster: I am the one hiding under your bed  
Teeth round sharp and eyes glowing red

Monster: I am the one hiding under your stairs  
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair

Chorus: This is Halloween  
This is Halloween

Vampires: In this town, we call home  
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

Mayor: In this town  
Don't we love it now?  
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise!

Chorus: Round that corner  
Man hiding in the trash can  
Something's waiting now to pounce  
And how you'll SCREAM!

This is Halloween  
Red and black, slimy green  
Aren't you scared?

Witches: Well that's just fine  
Say it once, say it twice  
Take your chance and roll the dice  
Ride with the moon in the dead of night

Skeleton: Everybody scream  
Everybody scream

Chorus: In our town of Halloween

Thomas hid behind a tree as he spotted a purple clown, feeling his fear of clowns inherited from his mother kick in.

Clown: I am the clown with a tear away face  
Here in a flash and gone without a trace

Ghoul: I am the who when you call who's there?  
I am the wind blowing through your hair

Oogie: I am the shadow on the moon at night  
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright

Chorus: This is Halloween  
This is Halloween

Kids: Tender lumpings everywhere  
Life's no good without a good scare

Dad: That's our job

Mom: But we're not mean

Both: In our town of Halloween

Thomas and Felicity backed up and felt hands on their shoulders. They both turned. Felicity looked surprised, but Thomas was screaming and crying as they both looked up to see a skeleton in a formal suit.

"Mom! Dad!" Thomas cried.

"Hello Jack, it's been a while." Cherry walked over.

"I'll say, Cherry." Jack the skeleton replied and looked down to the kids. "Sorry children, didn't mean to frighten you."

"Who are you?" Felicity asked, nervously.

"Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King of Halloween Town." the skeleton replied.

"Halloween Town?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, that's our home." Jack smiled with a chuckle. "You two remind me of your mother when she first came to Halloween Town."

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Skellington." Felicity smiled at the skeleton man. "My name is Felicity, and that's my older brother, Thomas."

"Lovely names you both have." Jack smiled at her. "No hard feelings, right boy?"

Thomas glared. "I wasn't scared or anything..." he huffed.

"Thomas, be nice." Cherry scolded her eldest child as she picked up her younger one.

"Sorry Mom." Thomas replied with slight shakiness in his voice.

"Why don't you all come to my place and meet my wife and lovely daughters?" Jack offered.

"Okay." Felicity replied with a smile.

"Charmed, Mr. Skellington." Forte said.

"Please, call me Jack." the skeleton prefered to be on first name basis.

"Wife? You mean you and Sally got married?" Cherry asked with slight tone in her voice.

Jack nodded. "Sometime after you went back home and we returned Sandy Claws back home, Sally and I got married, then we had two lovely daughters named Miriam and Hexa."

Daughters?" Felicity's eyes lit up.

"Indeed, Miss Felicity." Jack smiled at the human girl as he led them to his house.

Outside, there was a rag doll woman with long brown hair, blue skin with stitches, a patched dress and big wide white eyes. She was raking some leaves. She stopped as she saw Jack come with some strangers she had never met before. "Jack, hello, how was the Halloween festivities?" she asked.

"Great as always, Sally," Jack replied and turned to the family. "I want you to meet an old friend of ours."

Sally smiled and walked over to Cherry. She hadn't seen her in many, many years. Sally squinted her eyes and her eyes flashed wide open as she recognized Cherry. "Is... Cherry... Is that you?" Sally said in almost whisper.

"The one and only." Cherry said, placing her hands on her hips.

"I can't believe how much you've grown," Sally smiled.

"She also has certinately matured." Jack added as Forte, Thomas and Felicity caught up. "This is her husband, Maestro Forte, and their children, Thomas and Felicity."

Felicity smiled at Sally, bent on one knee and preformed a curtsey. Thomas just stood there with his mind being a blank state. He was very anxious to be around strange people in a strange world. Sally noticed how awkward he looked and felt.

"You are definitely Cherry's son." Sally giggled.

"Well, why are we just standing around here, there's a party to be celebrated!" Jack praised, then turned to his wife. "Sally, where are the girls?"

"They're already at the party," Sally replied. "I told them you'd be a little late, so they went ahead, but I waited for you."

"Well, let's get going, Halloween's the only holiday that gets me in a spiritual mood and I hate that it only comes once a year." Cherry deadpanned, then walked off.

"She used to be so cheerful when she was a child, I wonder what happened..." Jack observed.

"I suppose that's my fault," Forte sharply sighed. "It's a long story."

"Care to share, old friend?" Sally asked.

"I can tell you later..." Forte shuffled his foot into the ground.

"Come on, let's get going!" Felicity was excited. "I wanna get my spine chilled! I wanna get the pants scared off me! I wanna touch zombie brains!"

Jack, Sally and Forte couldn't help but laugh at Felicity's strange perkiness over gruesome things a girl her age would be frightened or disgusted by. Thomas just stared at her hard as they walked over to the party to catch up with Cherry. He was always jealous of Felicity from the day she was born.


	3. Chapter 3

The Forte family and Skellington couple walked their way to the Halloween party at a haunted looking shack. The party was held there and there were various Halloween characters from witches to vampires to sea-monsters there all having a good time and hanging out like normal, regular party goers. Thomas and Felicity walked in after their parents, seeing the other guests and spotted a skeleton girl with long, blonde hair reaching her shoulders in black clothes, looking like a zombie suit and another girl who was shorter and wore a pale olive green dress with black dress shoes, gray tights and her hair was shorter and raven colored.

"Hexa, Miriam, come meet your new friends," Sally called, pushing Felicity and Thomas gently forward. "These are Cherry's son and daughter, Thomas and Felicity."

"Bonjour." Felicity waved. 

"Yeah, what's up?" Thomas said, casually.

"Oh, hello there," the skeleton girl smiled. "I'm Hexa, this is my sister, Miriam."

Miriam waved shyly, with a sheepish smile. She looked very shy and a little more anxious than her older sister.

"It is okay," Felicity went to Miriam. "I am shy too, but I promise I will not hurt you."

"Go on." Hexa whispered to her rag doll sister.

Miriam slowly smiled and stepped forward to Felicity. "You look like an angel..." she said, shyly and quietly.

"Merci, Maman made this costume for me for my first Halloween." Felicity smiled.

Thomas scoffed as Felicity was getting nearly all the attention. Ever since she was born, Felicity was fussed over like a new toy in a household filled with children. Felicity had a lot of incredible talents she had inherited from Forte, but Thomas never had these talents. He was funny alright, and a bit of melodramatic, but he always didn't like Felicity for being born and winning both their parents' affections. Thomas saw that he wasn't needed or wanted, so he decided to leave the party, though the Skellington sisters had noticed.

"Where's your brother going?" Hexa asked.

"I am not sure," Felicity glanced back. "I just hope he will be okay."

"Another magnificent Halloween, Jack!" the Mayor called, making the crowd cheer for the skeleton pumpkin king.

Jack smiled in agreement. "This year's Halloween was the most horrible yet!"

"Always, Daddy!" Hexa cheered.

"Yay..." Miriam was really enthusiastic, but was quiet. Even more quiet than Felicity.

Jack bowed for everyone as they cheered for him. 

"Thomas is leaving." Forte observed. "Do you suppose he's jealous of his younger sister again?"

"Could be." Cherry replied, sipping blood red punch.

"Maybe Halloween isn't exciting enough for Thomas." Jack suggested. "I can talk to Dr. Finkelstein."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." Cherry cringed, remembering that creepy scientist creature.

"Who is Dr. Finkelstein, Maman?" Felicity interrupted.

Cherry darted her eyes at Felicity for making an interruption, then faced the air with her eyes direction in nowhere specifcally. "Sally's creator... He always made sure she wouldn't leave his sight... Creepy, miserable man."

"The doctor gave me this." Jack took out a glowing object in his hands. "He calls it the Soul Robber, he says it should come in handy."

"What does it do?" Hexa asked.

"Watch." Jack dug his hand into the robber, taking out a gooey green slob. He then threw it against a Jack-O-Lantern and flung it back into his bony hands, impressing his daughters and the Forte clan. "I'm sure this is exactly what I need and I'll set out for more discoveries for next year's Halloween. Cherry, do you mind helping me? No one else knows Halloween as well as you do outside of Halloween Town."

Cherry shrugged. "I guess I might as well."

"Forte, watch your daughter and my own, would you?" Jack asked.

"I should," the court composer breathed. "I just hope my boy is alright on his own."

Thomas was outside, grumbling. Why does Felicity have to go and ruin everything? While he was out, he heard scurrying. He turned to see three children who looked a little younger than Hexa, Miriam, and even Felicity. One was a witch girl, the other was a boy in a skeleton goblin costume and the other boy had a devil costume.

"What're you kids up to?" Thomas eyed them, strangely.

"Nothing, sir," Lock said innocently. "We're just looking for houses to trick or treat!"

"And not bring back Oogie!" Barrel said which got him a smack in the back of his head.

"Oogie?" Thomas asked. "What's an Oogie?"

The trio stopped, looking at him. 

"You don't know who Mr. Oogie Boogie is?" Shock asked.

"Can't say I do, is he a friend of yours?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, yes," Lock grinned. "He can be your friend too. You look so down in the dumps, old boy!"

"I kinda am, blame my sister, the show-off." Thomas hopped from his spot coming toward them.

"Follow us, I'm sure Mr. Oogie Boogie can help you out and cheer you up!" Lock chuckled, leaving with Shock and Barrel. 

Thomas shrugged and followed the strange children.

Hexa and Miriam had brought Felicity and Forte to their home. Zero was sleeping by the fireplace while Sally was cleaning up the place a little bit. 

"Girls, where's your father?" Sally asked.

"He went with Felicity's mother to look for new ideas for next year's Halloween bash." Hexa replied.

"Oh, that Jack." Sally shook her head, lightly.

"Bonjour, Madame Skellington." Forte greeted Sally.

"Oh, hello there, Maestro." Sally smiled. "We haven't properly met."

"Yes," Forte lightly rolled his eyes. "I know..." 

"Your wife was such a charming girl when she was younger, so loving, so frightened, so worried." Sally said, sitting down while the girls would play together.

"Maman? Afraid, loving, worried?" Felicity could never imagine her mother doing such things.

"Yes, your mother was a delicate one when she first came to Halloween Town," Sally explained. "She was lost and found Jack, he told her about our world and what we do. I'm sure she enjoyed her times though since Halloween is her favorite holiday."

"Oui, she loves it more than any other holiday." Forte agreed, remembering his conversation with her earlier.

"Poor Cherry though, her first Halloween away from home and she's in a strange world with strange people." Sally sighed.

"Maman has always seemed strong and vulnerable to me." Felicity spoke up.

"She seems that way now, but Felicity, believe me, your maman was a very different person when she was a mere child." Forte cracked a smile, remembering when he knew Cherry when she was a little girl. He looked out the window as there was suddenly rumbling.

"Mommy!" Miriam cried, rushing to Sally.

"Oh, Mimi, there, there." Sally hugged her younger daughter tight.

"Is it an Earth quake!?" Felicity cried as Forte quickly scooped her up in his arms as he was quietly worried as well.

"Worse," Sally told her as she took Hexa and went to get the girls to safety.

"What's worse than an Earth quake?" Forte was reluctant to find out the answer to that question.

"Oogie Boogie." Sally whispered once she had the girls in their room. "Hexa, protect your sister and don't come out unless I say so, okay?"

"Okay, Mom, good night." Hexa saluted, then shut the door to protect Miriam from any threats.

"Oh, Cerise, be careful..." Forte whispered as he looked out the window, remembering his bride had been gone for quite some time.

When Jack and Cherry returned to Halloween Town they came across some deathly skeletons. They both beat them in good management, but had to wonder why people would want to attack Jack when he was a regular celebrity. They then came to Mr. Hyde as they were now safe and Jack used the Soul Robber goo to beat them. They had a lot of questions for starters.

"What exactly happened while we were gone?" Jack asked.

"Lock, Shock, Barrel and a young man sewed Oogie back together again!" Mr. Hyde replied.

"Bugs, bags, and all!" Dr. Jekyl inside his hat added. "Oogie is back!"

"Dr. Finkelstein proposed a plan for the next Halloween," Mr. Hyde continued his side of the story. "He said you wanted a 'Dangerous Halloween', so he organized one to make you happy. He said if we didn't, you might never come back..."

"Jack!" Cherry was appalled by that.

"I didn't want it dangerous as in this bad," Jack tried to explain to her, then turned to Mr. Hyde. "Do you think using ghosts and skeletons to hurt people is my idea of a good Halloween?"

"We just wanted you to come back," Mr. Hyde insisted. "We set up booby traps all over the place, but then hordes of ghosts and skeletons appeared out of nowhere, attacking everyone, soon it wasn't even state to begin with on the streets."

"This is a disaster!" Jack cried.

"Come on, let's get the doctor." Cherry stated, drearily.

"Jack, Cherry, I want to help, too," Mr. Hyde jumped in. "Let me record your story so it's not lost. Don't forget."

Dr. Jekyl popped from his hat again. "Save it now or risk doing it again."

"Okay, we'll save." Cherry said, sounding impatient and dry as always. She had indeed changed since she was a sweet and innocent little girl and was now a lot like a female version of her husband before he had met her.

Jack and Cherry walked along Halloween Town. They saw on the town hall there was a glowing green sphere. That couldn't be a good sign, whenever Cherry saw green on Halloween, she instantly remembered the Oogie Boogie Man. Jack flung the Soul Robber gunk onto it to fling up and he helped Cherry up with him so they could continue exploring and hopefully save Halloween Town. More of the skeletons appeared and Jack battled them while Cherry was safely on the roof watching Jack fight the monsters in the attic. Jack got out and met with Cherry outside the door and decided to have a word about this with the Mayor. 

The two entered the town hall and did not see the mayor. They saw a tall, fat, shadowed figure. It really puzzled Jack. "What's this?" he asked.

The figure revealed to be Oogie Boogie with scary glowing green eyes with an evil, demonic laugh.

"Of course..." Cherry hissed at him.

Oogie: Well, well, well  
Jack the Pumpkin King!  
Finally made it, huh?  
Ooh, I've been waiting

Cherry stood back to let Jack take down Oogie. Cherry showed no fear. She was never afraid of Oogie, even when she was younger. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were fearful of him, but Cherry could never see what the big deal was. Boogeyman or not, Oogie just never scared her. Forte did, but that was a different story.

Oogie: So how do you like my Oogie Town?  
It's over, it's over  
This time you've gone too far

It's over, I'm serious  
Just who do you think you are?

Jack: Just because you two fooled the town does not make you king  
You'd better give up  
Surrender now, we're fixing everything

Oogie: That's what you think  
But you couldn't be more wrong  
And this will be the last time you hear the Oogie song  
I'm the Oogie Boogie Man!

Cherry watched the battle, lazily. It got boring and repetitive for a while, so she took out her tablet and read some gothic horror literature to fill her time. Jack and Oogie continued to argue and battle each other. If Jack could defeat Oogie once, she knew he could do it again. There was even a dance battle involved. Jack went first and then Oogie went against him. Jack had won and he delivered the final blow to Oogie to put him to rest. Oogie was finally defeated and Cherry slowly clapped with an emotionless look on her face like she were trying to staring at her forehead. She could really care less.

"Well done, Jack." Cherry congratulated without a hint of emotion in her voice.

"Beginner's luck if you ask me," Oogie scoffed as he was dying down. "Don't worry, we'll meet again!"

Jack praised himself. Cherry had a rare smirk on her face and both of them looked up as something glowing shined from the ceiling. It slowly came down and revealed to be a wooden Jack-O-Lantern shape.

"Why, that's the Halloween holiday door!" Jack exclaimed. "Now, what in the world is that doing there?"

"It probably has to be returned to the Holiday tree." Cherry replied. "I wonder who that extra person Lock, Shock, and Barrel had to bring Oogie back to life was." she said, walking with Jack as they continued their adventure.

"Who can say? Perhaps they made a new friend." Jack shrugged.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack and Cherry left town square to return the holiday tree decoration. Seeing the picture really brought back memories for Cherry when she was lost on Halloween night and was trying to look for an old friend, but she ran into a bunch of new ones. Jack and Cherry were on their way and they ran into one of the ghoulish kids, the short and tubby one with a black and white striped shirt.

"Jack, Cherry, welcome back!" he greeted them. "It looked like the Witch Shop just opened for the first time since you left. I guess that means things are safe now that you're back... Terrible things happened while you were gone, Jack, terrible things."

"What's the witch shop?" Cherry wondered.

"Come on, I'll show you." Jack said, leading her away from the slimy green fountain.

The two found their way to the Witch Shop. There were a couple of witches there behind a desk and they had items on sale such as potions, decorations, and any sort of craft they could harbor.

"Jack, you've returned!" the shorter witch beamed. 

"Is it true?" Jack asked. "The whole town is booby trapped?"

"Oh," the taller witch moaned. "It's too embarrassing to talk about. We brought this all upon ourselves. Say, care to buy anything? We've got some prime heads and torsos, but they'll cost you an arm and a leg."

"I'll ask my husband for a generous donation." Cherry smirked with her eyes looking crazy. She then went browsing around the shop seeing the various items.

"Jack, if you find our Crystal Skulls, bring them over to the shop and we'll exchange them for some goodies." the taller witch told the skeleton. She then glanced back at the cauldron oozing pink fog and slime. "Witch's shop, we got the best bargain in town!"

"You'll always be our hero, Jack." the shorter witch gushed.

Cherry looked to see some witch clothes on sale. She then saw garlic on display and hissed at it. She had never done that before, maybe it was her new vampire powers bestowed onto her from 19th birthday present from Forte which made her immortal in the first place. 

"Come on, Cherry, they don't have anything I can afford right now." Jack allowed her to stop browsing.

"Okay." Cherry shrugged, following him outside.

"You're always welcome back, Jack." the shorter witch called.

Cherry and Jack walked out back to Town Square. Cherry found herself humming "This is Halloween" as they wandered about for their next mission. They made their way to the main gate to return the holiday door sign, but it couldn't open. 

"What's wrong with this thing?" Cherry hissed.

Jack went to the boy from earlier. "The Main Gate can't be opened. Do you know why?"

"I think Clown has the key, but I don't know where he went." the boy shrugged. 

Jack went back to Cherry to tell him what he had heard. Suddenly there was bobbing against a closed man hole. The cover was hopping up and down, forcing Cherry to focus on it so she wouldn't be scared if something out jump out and surprise her. Jack went to it and looked at Cherry.

"Should I open the man hole?" Jack asked.

"I'd prefer it if it were your funeral and not mine, though I think I'm in Hell already if I'm going to be married forever and never die." Cherry answered, meaning yes.

"That seems to be a good idea," Jack shrugged and opened it. He opened the cover and placed it away, jumping into the sewer.

Cherry stared at him go down and decided to walk away. "Well, good luck with that."

"Get over here!" Jack grabbed her arm, pulling her down with him.

Cherry was now in the sewer with Jack. She had only been down there for a few seconds, and she was already agitated. But she calmed herself down a bit. "No light.... Depressing setting... Little to no hope left," she then smiled brightly. "I should ground Felicity in here!"

Jack was ready now for any ghosts or skeletons. He battled them down to protect Cherry as they went along their journey through Halloween Town. After Jack battled those foul beasts, he went to the Clown with a tear-away face. Cherry was no longer afraid of him, she long ago conquered her fear of clowns.

"Jack!" the clown sounded afraid for a change. 

"No need to panic." Cherry said, strictly.

"Yes, you can calm down," Jack soothed. 

"Is it really you, Jack?" Clown asked. "Oh, something really terrible's happened."

"We're going to save everyone and return Halloween Town back to how it was. We need you to open the Main Gate."

"It's been so dangerous out there, I locked the Main Gate, and hid here! Now, nothing can go wrong!"

"Are you freakin' kidding me?" Cherry hissed.

"I like a good scare, but those things bite!" Clown continued, laughing nervously.

"We want the key!"

"Oh, you want the gate key? Now, where did I put it? Hmm... Did I eat it? I'll open the gate once I find it."

"Alright then." Cherry rolled her eyes and went back up the ladder with Jack behind her.

The Main Gate opened once the Clown finally found the key. Jack saw something wrong in his pumpkin patch and decided to have a look at it. Cherry heard Jack scream in terror and rolled her eyes again.

"Wussy." she mumbled to herself.

Cherry was talking with the Clown and ghoul kid as Jack was fighting ghost skeletons. 

"I got the gate open for you, Jack." Clown smiled.

"But not before some of Oogie's baddies grabbed Sally and Maestro Forte and carried them off toward the cemetery," the kid added. "I've heard the cemetery is pretty dangerous these days. I hope they're okay."

"What about the children?" Cherry asked.

"Dr. Finkelstein took them to his place once Maestro Forte and Sally went missing." the kid replied.

"What!? Took Sally!?" Jack sounded heartbroken, if he had a heart, that is. "That's it, no more Mr. Nice Bones! Come on Cherry, let's get my wife and your husband back!" he dashed out the main gate.

Cherry stayed still for a moment. She then shrugged and followed him. "It'll be the only exciting moment of our marriage."


	5. Chapter 5

"I hope Flick will be fine with Dr. Finkelstein," Cherry spoke up as they were heading to the cemetery. "She's weird in social situations, she gets that from her father."

"So, what exactly happened on Christmas that your husband is so sore about?" Jack asked as he helped her up at some points, making idle conversation.

Cherry got inside, as they passed the cemetery and went inside the gates. "Well, after of course, I celebrated my first Halloween away from home, I spent my first Christmas away from home. Late autumn, most of winter and some of spring, I met a girl named Belle and we were held captive in an enchanted castle with a beast under a spell, as well as his servants."

"He made you spend Christmas away from your family?"

Cherry nodded.

"Oh, that must have been awful." Jack frowned, sympathetically.

"You kidnap Santa Claus and that's awful?" Cherry raised an eyebrow, then got back to conversation. "Anyway, during the curse, the servants had turned into moving furniture. Forte was a horrifying pipe organ, if he played too loud he would have the ability to destroy the castle and kill everyone in it. Before the curse, Forte was the court composer, he would always play very dreary music and he wasn't very nice to the other servants, but they would listen politely. The Beast spent more time with Forte during the curse so Forte had the will to play sad songs all the time." Cherry then smirked. "I liked his music..."

"You were a child then and he's over 300 years old..." Jack calculated.

"I know, he made me immortal like him, on my 19th birthday I discovered that I was severly depressed and aggressive after a certain death in my family. I was so depressed I jumped off a cliff to commit suicide, but Forte fell after me and bit me to reveal he was a vampire and now I can't die or age like him."

"How long ago was this?"

"Roughly 30 years ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry... What about the birth of your children?"

"Thomas was born from a cruel man who attacked me, Forte wanted to be his father figure though and Felicity is both our natural daughter. I think Thomas is jealous that Felicity came from a loving father and shares his vampire powers while I was mortal when I gave birth to Thomas."

"Oh, my," Jack stopped and went to his dog's grave. "Zero's not home. Where could he be?"

"That is odd, I remember him being a very loyal dog to you, Jack." Cherry added as they continued to explore.

They came across an eerie looking tree that appeared to be alive. It was indeed alive and it crept closer and closer to the couple. Cherry wasn't sure how to react to it, but Jack rushed to it like meeting an old friend.

"Jack, you've come back." the tree sounded relieved.

"Hello, Hanging Tree," Jack greeted. "Umm... What happened to your hanging men?"

"Ever since Oogie Boogie and his monsters came to town, my hanging men have been hiding all around the cemetery," the tree explained. "I'm afraid that hanging men aren't very brave."

"I guess we're all missing people." Cherry shrugged.

"I've lost Sally, Cherry's lost Maestro Forte," Jack explained, feeling lost as well as they all did. "You haven't seen them, have you?"

"No, but maybe my hanging men have seen them." the tree replied. 

"I guess we could find them." Cherry said, walking away.

"Yeah, I could really use Zero's nose at a time like this." Jack agreed, following her.

"I bet you'll find Zero in his grave." the tree told them, hoping it would help.

"We were just there, but I guess we could look again." Jack said as he left with Cherry.

Cherry rolled her eyes again, shrugging. She then went to one of the graves, saw a shovel and began to dig it up as Jack went around looking for his ghost dog. Familiar haunting music filled the air as Jack was looking and Cherry had gone inside the occupied grave. Jack called for Cherry as she came out of the grave and met him at the closed gate.

"Wait, what were you doing?" Jack stepped back.

"Forte and I haven't made love since Felicity was conceived, what do you think I'm doing?" Cherry asked, looking rhetorical. She then looked forward to see Thomas with Lock, Shock, and Barrel in their bath tub. "Thomas!"

"Um, hey Mom..." Thomas weakly greeted.

"What are you doing with these terrible children?" Cherry sounded cross. Though, since she remembered the last time she dealt with them, her temper was probably necessary.

"I might have known," Jack agreed to suspect them.

"Welcome home, Jack." Lock greeted casually.

"How was your trip, Jack?" Shock asked, innocently.

"Are you having fun, Jack?" Barrel added.

"Mom, erm... Have you lost weight?" Thomas asked, innocently as well.

"You four wouldn't have anything to do with Oogie's return, would you?" Jack asked, suspicous.

"Who?" Lock asked.

"Us?" Shock sounded appalled.

Barrel stammered, unsure of what to answer.

"Thomas, get away from those children!" Cherry scolded firmly.

Even when Thomas is an adult, Cherry still treated him with mother bear force. Thomas obeyed his mother and went out to side her, leaving Oogie's boys in their tub.

"It's not too late," Jack scolded the children. "Return the town to order, immediately!"

"Why would we do that?" Lock asked.

"The fun has just begun!" Shock squealed.

"Besides, we're on a secret mission to stop you," Barrel explained. "Don' tell everyone though!"

Lock pounded him on the head with his plunger. He then jumped out of the tub. "See you later!"

Suddenly, the gates rose open and they looked deathly and pointed. 

"Now, you'll have to play with me." Lock taunted, putting on his devil mask. He had summoned skeletons from beyond the grave.

"Thomas, this is partly your fault, so you're helping Jack fight those skeletons." Cherry scolded.

"Aw, Mom, do I have to?" Thomas frowned.

"THOMAS!" Cherry hissed, her eyes turning laser green and her vampire fangs popping out.

Thomas went wide-eyed and went to help Jack defeat the skeletons. 

Lock laughed wickedly and went to Cherry. "You wouldn't hurt a child, would you?" he laughed, mocking her.

Cherry then grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground, making their eyes meet. "Yes, I would." She squeezed his throat as the boys took on Jack and Thomas.

"Sorry!" Lock wheezed once the battle was over. "I'll be good from now on, I promise, I gotta go!"

Cherry snarled at him and threw him violently in the bath tub. "I never want to see you three again for as long as I live."

"Mom, they're just kids!" Thomas protested against her violence.

"SILENCE!" Cherry hissed at him, glaring at him harshly. "You had no right to go with them, Thomas. You had no right to leave the party like that and worrying your father and sister!"

"What's the point?" Thomas scoffed. "They're not my real father and sister."

"Maestro Forte may not be your biological father, but he raised you like his own. You need to respect your family members no matter who or where they come from. I didn't want to give birth to your sister, I almost had an abortion and stabbed my stomach to make her still birth, but I gave birth to her and she is my daughter, and it's my job to protect her. I almost had an abortion when I was pregnant with you! I didn't even want my daughter to exist!"

"Why, Mom?"

"Because, she has alien and vampire blood, that's a rare breed of creature," Cherry came to him, crossing her arms. "If she were born she would be wanted for millions of dollars. I told your father a thousand times I was going to kill Felicity because she's so fragile and delicate and she would die and wouldn't live another day if she were born in a world where anyone could kill her and in that mortal demon war with your Aunt Peach against her father, Lucifer of Hell. Your father then bit her and made her immortal like me, now we both can't age or die even if we're really desperate to unless something would happen to your father, then we would all die together and go straight to Hell. You're just an alien human hybrid, nothing will happen to you."

"Oh." Thomas sounded awestruck.

"Now do you see we're so protective and parental toward her?" Cherry asked once she released exposition.

"Yes, Mom, I'm sorry." Thomas stared at the ground. "I just wanted some attention... I thought it was because Forte is her actual child.

"Maestro Forte loves you like a real son because he had never had a child or married before I came along after I hit puberty. Your foster father was a very different man before I met him... I was young when I first knew him, but I changed him and tamed the wild beast of him whie being his beauty."

"Oh..."

"Yeah, think about things before you go on a rampage," Cherry walked away from him to meet with Jack at Zero's grave. "You can help us, or you can let your family die."

Thomas gulped and followed along.

Jack happily stood before Zero's grave. He patted his leg to get the dog's attention and sure enough, Zero sprouted out, happy to see Cherry and Jack again.

"Hey, boy." Thomas smiled at the dog.

"There you are, Zero," Jack sounded relieved. "Come on, we need your help to find some hanged men."

"And our spouses." Cherry added.

Zero nodded and went to sniff about the cemetery.

"So, everyone in this town is in Halloween costumes all the time?" Thomas asked, following his mother.

"Not exactly," Cherry replied. "This is Halloween Town. Everyone is like Halloween people, only it's real. So if you meet any werewolves, mummies, or witches, they are legit."

"Is Dad from here?"

"I doubt it, he wasn't born a vampire, he told me that he was on the verge of dying and he was desperate to see me again. A vampire then found him and bit him, making him immortal and live for over 300 years. He really hated it until he bit me so I could feel his pain and suffering."

"Yeah, that sounds like Dad to me."

"I really hate him for doing it, but I did tell him I didn't want to ever age and I thought suicide was the best solution..." she then grew bored of looking around. "Charles Amadeus Forte, where are you!?"

"Don't worry, we'll find them." Jack assured.

Cherry, Thomas, Zero and Jack kept looking. They stopped as they found hanging men to tell them that Oogie's lackeys would be taken care of. Thomas asked more questions and Jack and Cherry would answer the best way they could. Jack better than Cherry since he's actually native to Halloween Town.


	6. Chapter 6

Eventually the group found the hanged men for the hanging tree. The tree thanked them and soon Halloween Town would be back to its old self. 

"What's this all about, anyway?" Cherry asked with her arms crossed and a stern, icy look on her face just as always.

"One of the hanged men just told me, he heard a woman singing from under the ground." the tree told Jack as a mysterious paper airplane was flying in the air.

Cherry glanced at it as it flew and hit Jack in his spine. Jack turned to see it, wondering if it was a sign. 

"What is it?" Thomas asked.

Jack bent to see what it was. "A paper plane from Sally!" he tried to grab it, but it withered away in the air with magic dust suddenly. 

"Down that way," the tree pointed with a limb. "Lies the underground burial chamber."

"The Burial Chamber?" Jack, Cherry, and Thomas asked at once.

"It's the largest grave in this area," the Hanging tree told them as they looked to the grave, deserted distance of the landscape of the grim town. "It's infested with spiders and cobwebs."

"How romantic." Cherry smirked, but not fully smiling.

"You're telling me." the tree agreed with her.

"That's it!" Jack exclaimed, suddenly with an ephiphany. "That's where Sally and Forte must be!"

"Hooray." Cherry sounded cold and uncaring about saving her husband's life.

"Come on!" the living skeleton led the way with the immortal bride and son following him.

The trio went exploring past the graveyard. Thomas was still a little spooked by some of Halloween Town's sights and natures, but tried to settle down since his mother was with him. Jack then found the paper plane again, picked it up and read it. It was from Sally alright, he knew her handwriting anywhere.

"Jack, Cherry, hurry back to town!

After you left, Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Cherry's son, Thomas, brought Oogie back to life. All the skeletons and ghosts that are probably attacking you by now were made by Dr. Finkelstein and are being controlled by Oogie. These Oogie monsters were specifically made to attack you two, and will stop at nothing to track you down!"

"Kinda little late to being telling this to us now, Sally." Cherry deadpanned.

"Come on, we better keep moving." Jack said, putting the paper in his pocket and crossing the rickety old bridge over a bottomless grave pit.

The trio did best to be careful. Cherry warned Thomas that Halloween Town was full of frightening sights that he may have never seen before and could get scared, even if now he was a full grown adult and not a little boy anymore who always needed his mother there to protect him. Such as flames whooshing passed them as they went to the underground burial. They came to a grave that seemed to have a way, however, they all saw a familiar fiendish child in his devil costume.

"Why do you always have to spoil our fun?" Lock snarled with a plunger in one hand and his mask in another. "This is the last time you'll get in our way!" The boy put on his mask, waved his plunger and made spiked gates rise up to battle the trio. 

"Why do you have to be such a nuisance?" Cherry scoffed at the little boy. "I should've killed you when I had the chance!" she was then grabbed by one of the possessed skeletons. "LET ME GO, BONEHEAD!"

Thomas was also grabbed by a skeleton, which frightened him. 

Jack growled, feeling powerful. He had to save his friends and he wielded his Soul Robber to attack them at once and save Halloween Town before it's too late. Cherry really had it up to here with Lock and those minions, Shock and Barrel, she really wanted them all dead and didn't care if they were kids or not. 

The skeletons kept charging, but they were almost all gone. Thomas looked in horror as the monsters were being killed and destroyed and that his mother was physically assaulting a child and thanked his lucky stars that his mother wasn't physically abusive. All the skeletons had their spines tingled and were defeated and Cherry left Lock dizzy.

"You win this time, you two," Lock told the skeleton and adult woman once he could see straight again. 

"There won't be a next time, you little snot." Cherry hissed.

"Of course not, Cherry, whatever you say." Lock said, innocently, but everyone knew it was fake.

"Good," Cherry breathed, then looked harshly at him. "NOW GET LOST!"

Lock gasped in fright and dashed away from the scene.

"That kid..." Cherry growled and follow Jack as they kept searching for Sally and Forte. "Come along, Thomas."

Thomas nodded and went along with them to keep looking and maybe head back home in one piece.

"What's that?" Cherry pointed to a very dusty and cobwebbed area that looked terrifying with gothic architecture.

"That's the Corridor of Coffins," Jack told her. "Ghosts and skeletons there no doubt."

"Maybe we should've honeymooned there." Cherry folded her arms.

The two went inside while Thomas waited outside. However, Thomas heard a noise and since he was a stranger in this world, he should follow along with them. Jack and Cherry beat more ghosts and skeletons and made it downstairs.

Down the corridor of coffins, Jack and Cherry were delighted to see that Sally and Forte were down there. Jack and Sally rushed to each other in embrace, while Cherry walked to Forte coldly and he slowly walked up to her, just the same with an emotionless face.

"I missed you." Forte said, glancing down at her.

"You know what? I missed you too." Cherry said, dryly.

"Sally!" Jack sighed, holding his rag doll bride.

"Jack..." Sally sighed back, holding his bony hands.

Cherry rolled her eyes at their cliche movie-like reunion. Forte rolled his eyes too, but he secretly envied that Cherry wasn't like that toward him. Ever since she turned 19, Cherry had been the most depressing, sadistic, cold-hearted woman and it didn't help that she stayed that way after Forte bit her to prevent her from committing suicide. The reunion was cut short once everyone looked up to see an orange swirling vortex and it quickly grew dark. A rope came down, snatched Sally and pulled her up, making her scream in fear and alarm. 

"What's this!" Jack gasped.

The vortex slammed down, but it was revealed to be a giant, hideous, four-eyed spider. 

"I hate spiders." Cherry hissed.

Sally sang her heart out as she was held prisoner. Cherry grabbed Forte to keep him from being shot down with webs as the spider shot out webs to trap them and Jack. Probably another minion from Oogie. The spider leaped several times and the group did best to dodge. Thomas felt like his fear of spiders inherited from his mother come around as the spider would always get dangerously close to him. The spider shot a web at Cherry and Forte and they were stuck to the wall, it was up to Jack now. 

When Jack hit the spider, it would spout out several other spiders to come for him. This was truly not the time to let arachnophobia bother you, no matter how hard it was. Jack was almost defeated, the spider was nearly too much for him. Cherry wiggled her leg a bit to slide off her slip-on shoe and she flung it into the spider's head, making it explode and die right away into a pile of slimy pus. 

"Nice shot, Cerise." Forte marveled.

"Thanks, Chucky..." Cherry said, slightly grateful.

Sally, Forte, and Cherry were now free once the spider was vanquished. Sally slowly floated down from her prison and landed in Jack's arms, bridal style and he put her on her feet. Cherry walked over to the spider's remains, swiped her shoe and slid it back on, coming back to her 'men'.

The group went back over the coffin corridors and met by the hanging tree. 

"Are you alright, Sally?" Jack asked.

"Oh, Jack, you came back!" Sally gushed.

"We got your note." Jack added.

"You have to rescue the girls and Dr. Finkelstein," Sally alerted the adventurous duo. "This key opens the gate to his manor." she handed them a shiny, golden key.

"Thanks Sally, I'm glad you're safe." Jack took the key with a smile. 

"We're all safe, now that our Pumpkin King has returned."

Cherry and Forte continued to roll their eyes at the sappy romance.

"Pumpkin King." Cherry snorted.

"Pumpkin King?" Jack sounded like he had an idea. "Girls, that's it!"

"What's it?" everyone else asked.

"I am the Pumpkin King!" Jack praised. "And I can use my Pumpkin Fire to fight Oogie and his army. Good thinking, Sally and Cherry!"

"Thank you, Jack." Sally smiled.

"Oh, brother." Cherry rolled her eyes.

"No, thank you, Sally." Jack smiled, then walked off. "Come on, Cherry, we got another adventure."

"I didn't want an adventure, we should've stayed home and let Flick practice trick-or-treating." Cherry grumbled.

"I'll go by myself if you're not up for it." Jack shrugged.

"Whatever you wanna do is fine with me, but leave me out of it." Cherry sounded impatient.

"Very well." Jack walked off, alone this time.

Cherry sighed, exhausted. Forte then came behind her and held her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. 

"What?" Cherry sounded irritable.

"It's been so long..." Forte breathed into her ear, sending chills down her spine.

Cherry shuddered a bit, then looked back up at him. "With you..."

"Who was the other one?" Forte sounded appalled that she did that when they were separated.

"Some dead guy..."

"I'm alive and you make me do all the work!"

"You come from a world where men believe they're in control of everything..."

"Don't remind me, I hated that era..."

"You know how exhausted is going on adventures like this all the time to protect you and Flick?" Cherry held herself in his arms, looking into his coal eyes. "I need a break..."

"Oui, and taking care of Flick alone is stressful," Forte frowned. "It's been a while since we were last alone..."

"Time before another baby comes into the picture..."

"You'd.... You'd want another one, Cerise?"

"I'm not saying no, but... Flick's eight and a half years old now... I kinda want another baby sometimes, Charles."

"But... How.... When.... You've been drowning your sorrows in birth control pills lately... It seems like even if we tried you'd never be able to have babies..."

"I take birth control pills because where you come from, such a thing doesn't exist! Mrs. Potts had Chip and those other six kids!"

"Those teacups were actually just enchanted teacups," Forte told her. "Christopher was the only child of Madame Potts."

"An only child at that time?" Cherry raised a surprised eyebrow.

Forte nodded, surely.

"Okay, no more babies then..." Cherry let go of him and walked off.

Forte's eyes widened and chased after her, grabbing her arm. "You didn't say you didn't want another child..."

"You didn't say you wanted another child..."

With that, Cherry and Forte went back down the Corridor of Coffins and began to make love like they never made love before.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack and Thomas were on their way to Finkelstein's castle and Cherry and Forte had caught up with them.

"Where have you two been?" Jack asked.

"That's not important right now, we have to get the girls." Cherry said, coldly and abruptly.

"Right." Jack nodded then walked with Cherry forward while Thomas and Forte followed behind a little slowly.

Thomas looked at his foster father. "So, umm... How are you and Mom?"

"We're fine," Forte said, dryly, a little out of breath from what he did with Cherry earlier. "I just never knew your mother was so.... dominate... Even when Felicity was conceived, I had never seen her like this before."

"She said that she didn't even want to give birth to Flick." 

"Indeed she didn't, your mother is a very demanding, difficult woman."

"Why do you let her live on, Dad? She keeps controlling you and treats you like you're nothing. Why do you still stay with her?"

Forte looked back to him in his eyes, reminind him of when Cherry was young and innocent. "Because, I love her..." he then averted his gaze and continued to follow as they got to the center of Halloween Town.

"I don't get it," Jack spoke up. "Sure, the doctor is messed up sometimes, but he would never want to hurt anybody."

"I blame Oogie, I always hated that despicable creature." Cherry seethed.

Jack and Cherry came close to a closed gate. Jack turned to the crew with him. "There's the gate that leads to the doctor's lab. We need a key to open it."

Cherry came up to it and unlocked the gate with a key in her pocket. "Thanks for letting me keep your skeleton key, Jack."

Jack smiled at her, slightly. "Well, the way things are now, something tells me the doctor's not going to listen to reason."

Jack entered the lab with them. Thomas stayed close to his biological mother and foster father. Cherry shined her pendant against a lack of light to shine throughout the room.

"That's a nice necklace, Mom." Thomas said, trying to get on her good side after what they all went through.

"Shut up, I'm mad at you." Cherry hissed.

Thomas gulped and clamped his hands over his mouth.

"Don't feel bad, Thomas," Forte whispered. "Your mother tells me to shut up all the time, it just means she loves us."

Jack went with the crew, following the silver light and came to some metal and wooden structure. Cherry went with her family men to one corner while Jack went to another. Cherry found a lever, thinking it was for the light and pulled it, only to fall through a trapdoor with the guys, screaming. 

"That wasn't too bad." Thomas said once they came to.

"Yes, it seems we had a soft landing," Forte looked around. "But, where is your mother."

"Get off me!" Cherry growled, shoving them off her back. She then looked all around and spotted a hunchbacked man as Jack came up. "There you are!" Cherry walked toward him.

Thomas and Forte dusted themselves clean and went to follow Cherry as they saw an ugly little man.

"Igor, where's Dr. Finkelstein?" Jack asked the tiny man.

"Sorry, Igor under strict orders, not let anyone pass." Igor told them.

"But we're here to rescue the doctor from Oogie!" Jack protested.

"SO SPILL!" Cherry demanded, her eyes turning crimson red and evil.

"Sorry," Igor still wouldn't budge. "But Master said if Igor let anyone pass, no biscuit. Ohh... Igor starving!"

"Igor's about to be black and blue if he doesn't tell us where Dr. Finkelstein is with our daughters!" Cherry hissed.

"Igor, if we bring you a biscuit, you'll let us pass?" Jack offered.

"Yes!" Igor cheered. "Igor do for Jack and Forte family! Hurry, Igor starving!"

"Where are we gonna find biscuits, Jack?" Thomas asked.

 

"At the Witch Shop, they have everything there." Jack answered.

"Come on, we have to get the doctor and the girls back." Cherry said, with slight hint of worry in her voice for Felicity's safety. She then noticed as she said that, Forte smiled at her. "What?" she asked, with annoyance.

"You care about our family." Forte smiled.

"Shut up." Cherry growled, then walked to the Witch's Shop with Jack.

"Love you too..." Forte whispered, following.

Cherry, Jack, Thomas, and Forte were on their way to the Witch Shop to get a biscuit for Dr. Finkelstein's trusted assistant. Lock, Shock, and Barrel came up in their bath tub.

"Go away, you twerps, I'm not in the mood." Cherry hissed at them. "Besides Lock, you promised to leave us alone!"

"Crossies, didn't count!" Lock cackled.

Cherry came up to the three fiendish kids and pulled them by their collars, scaring them. "Listen, you little tricksters, I'm sick and tired of seeing you around this God for saken Halloween Town! I came here with my family for a little time away from work, but everywhere I go, I have to deal with it! If you want a playmate, then go buy a dog or something, just leave us out of it!" Cherry flung them back into their tub, Barrel landing painfully first, then Lock on top of him, and Shock over them. "I hate you three and I always have... Now scram!" she stormed off.

Forte growled, curling his bony finger in his hair. Normally he would object to Cherry harming a child, especially if it was one of their own, but he could tell those 'children' deserved it. 

"I hate those kids..." Cherry growled.

"What are they, anyway?" Thomas asked.

"Resident mischief makers," Jack explained. "Their parents were killed by Oogie Boogie a long time ago and he raised them to be his minions."

Cherry showed no sympathy for them, but Thomas and Forte did, slightly because those children had no real moral guardians.

"So, Lock, Shock, and Barrel aren't siblings?" Cherry asked, always thinking they were when she first knew them.

"No," Jack shook his skull. "Yes, they were raised together, but they aren't real siblings. Lock and Shock even have crushes on each other, but neither one of them will admit it. I think Barrel was just with their band because he wanted to be with his friends, he doesn't really have a mean bone in his body."

The group made it into the Witch Shop. 

"I can't believe this is all real..." Thomas looked all around him.

"Maybe I could take Cerise here when she's in one of her good moods." Forte sighed, feeling peaceful of all the dead, bleak surroundings.

"WHAT!? I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!" Cherry growled, storming out of the shop.

"What's wrong?" Thomas asked.

"They don't have anymore." Jack explained.

"What!?" Forte and Thomas asked.

"They said the Corpse Kid has some, why don't we ask him for some of his?" Jack offered.

Cherry looked before her and saw the Corpse Kid walking off. "HEY, KID!" she ran after him.

"Oh, dear." Forte cringed.

"Hey, kid, why don't we get this out of the way and you hand me over some biscuits, huh?" Cherry asked, in a gentle tone but still sounded cold as ever, crouching to the kid's height.

"What? You want my biscuit?" the Corpse Kid tilted his head, then got nasty. "No way, these are mine!"

Jack came to the kid to help Cherry convince the kid that they really needed the biscuits. "My fine boy, we need that biscuit to save the doctor and our daughters from Oogie Boogie's clutches."

"Oh," the Corpse Kid said lightly, but still refused. "But this biscuit's mine!"

"LISTEN, KID!" Cherry got deep in his face, but was restrained by her husband and son.

"Well," the Corpse Kid shrugged. "I guess you need it more than me... I know! I'll give you my biscuit if you can pass my quiz! It's about Halloween Town, so it should be easy for you, Pumpkin King!"

"I'm a Halloween expert myself, I've celebrated Halloween since I was three days old." Cherry remarked, coming back and adjusting her glasses to seem vastly intelligent.

"Question One: What day is Halloween?" the Corpse Kid quizzed.

"October 31st." the skeleton and immortal woman said.

"That's right!" the Corpse Kid cheered. "Question Two: How many Hanging Men does the Hanging Tree have?"

Jack paused a moment to think and Cherry thought back with her powerful memory. "Five."

"That's right," the Corpse Kid smiled at her. "Question Three: What color is the water in the Halloween Town fountain?"

"Green?" Cherry shrugged.

"That's right! Question Four: What is the main ingredient used for Halloween?"

"Thrills and chills." Jack answered, proudly.

"That's right!" the Corpse Kid cheered.

"Sounds like our marriage." Forte teased, wrapping his arms around Cherry's chest and resting his chin on her shoulder, looking down at her, closely.

"Question Five: What is the name of the town Jack lives in?" the Corpse Kid asked. How long was this quiz?

"Halloween Town." the humans said.

"Question Six: How many fingers does Jack have on one hand?" 

Cherry glanced at the skeleton, then looked back at the kid. "Four."

"Question Seven: What is Jack's last name?"

"Is it skeleton or skellington?" Thomas asked himself.

"Skellington." Cherry clarified to him and the kid.

"Question Eight: Saint Patrick's Day, Independence Day, and New Year's Day. Which one doesn't have a holiday door?" the Corpse Kid continued.

"New Year's Day." Jack answered for them, knowing they wouldn't know positively.

"Question Nine: What color is Sally's hair?" 

"Red."

Question Ten: How many bolts are on Dr. Finkelstein's head?"

Everyone looked stumped. 

"Eight." Cherry said, without giving it any second thought.

"That's right!" the Corpse Kid cheered.

The men eyed Cherry and she noticed their gazes. "What?"

"How could you have remembered that?" Jack asked, gobsmacked. 

"I remember everything..." Cherry said, slyly.

"Unreal, a perfect score!" the Corpse Kid continued to cheer. "Way to go! Well, a deal's a deal, here's my biscuit." he handed them his biscuits.

 

The group took the biscuits, then rushed back to Igor before it would be too late.


	8. Chapter 8

The group came back to Igor and he had finished the biscuit he had longed for.

"Ooh, biscuit tastes good!" Igor was satisfied. 

"Now, Igor, you promised to move aside." Jack told the hunchback.

"Igor keeps his promise." Igor nodded and got out of their way, allowing them to go forward.

The group went ahead and looked all around for any sights of Dr. Finkelstein, Miriam, Hexa, or Felicity. They went up the stairs, and suddenly there was a ZAP! A lightning rod shot down, surprising them. 

"WHAT WAS THAT!?" Cherry demanded, her frightening voice echoing around the room.

"What is that thing getting it's power from?" Jack asked Igor.

"Doctor have big generator behind big door over there," Igor replied, gesturing to the generator as he explained. "Jack and friends smash curcuit with something to make lightning stop."

Jack looked at the generator. "I bet that won't stop it for long, we'd better get back quick or we're fried."

"We need to find a weakness." Cherry stated.

"Any monster, a weakness it will have," Forte said. "Music soothes the savage beast."

"That explains how you and Adam ever got along." Cherry deadpanned.

Forte felt stung, her mentioning Adam and the castle, he always hated talking about it and wished she wouldn't talk about it around him. Especially that one point she made him go to the castle to apologize to Belle and Adam for The Enchanted Christmas.

"Every monster has a weak point," Jack stated to the family. "We just need to find out the doctor's."

"What could that be though?" Thomas asked.

Jack and Cherry thought for a moment and remembered the Nightmare Before Christmas events. "SALLY!" 

"I bet Sally knows something that we can use to save the doctor!" Jack chimed.

 

The group went back to the rag doll woman.

Sally turned to see them and smiled beneath her stitched mouth. "Oh, Jack, you remembered to come back to me!"

"What you said before kind of worried me." Jack said.

"It's about the doctor, Jack, if he tries to harm you, use the Sleeping Soup to knock him out." Sally offered.

"What's sleeping soup?" Thomas asked.

"It's a soup made with special ingredients to make someone fall into a deep sleep." Forte replied, sounding very familiar.

"Where can we get it?" Thomas asked Sally.

"I can make it for you, but I need ingrediants first," Sally said to them. "You guys will get them for me, right?"

"I'm gonna stay in the kitchen, you go with them." Cherry said, shoving Forte against Thomas and Jack.

"You don't have to stay in the kitchen because you're a woman, Cerise." Forte retorted. "I don't mind cooking for you."

"I'll cook!" Thomas slid over, putting on a fluffy pink apron.

Cherry sighed. "Very well, you stay in the kitchen, your father and I will take care of this mess with your sister and new friends."

"What are the ingredients for the soup, Sally?" Jack asked his bride.

"Here," Sally handed him a piece of paper. "I wrote them down for you so you can look at them later."

"Thank you, Sally." Jack smiled at her, then left with the couple.

Forte, Cherry, and Jack looked at the recipe for the sleeping soup. They would need the following ingredients: Deadly nightshade, frog's breath, and worm's wart. The ingredients also came with a set of instructions from Sally for them to follow exactly in order to find what they would need for their concoction. The deadly nightshade was at a grave marked of the same name, the doctor bred frogs in the junkyard, and worm's wart was convinately in the shop.

"So, how are going to do this?" Jack asked, deep in thought.

"I used to catch frogs when I was a lad," Forte said, hoping he could help of sorts. "Sometimes I would befriend them, it's just people I couldn't understand."

"You get the frog, you get the worm wart, and I'll get the deadly nightshade." Cherry instructed.

"Oui, be careful, Cerise, there are a lot of graves around this town." Forte advised.

"Quit worrying, Charles," Cherry told him, icily. "I'm not the naive little girl you used to know, I'm all grown up now. Now move out." she then walked her way as Jack walked to the shop.

Forte sighed sharply. "Non, Cerise, you certainly are not..." he then walked to collect a frog for the soup.

The group met back up together, and went to Sally and Thomas. Sally taught Thomas how to mix and create the soup to make it perfect enough like a usual, regular serving. 

"Finished!" Sally came with a completed bowl to them. "Once the doctor gets a whiff of this, he'll be out like a light!"

"Thank you, Sally," Jack gently took the bowl. "What would I do without you?"

The group went back to the circuit as before. Jack was pondering how to smash it. He then took out his Soul Robber to destroy the electric currents to make them pass by safely. Jack had thrown his Soul Robber and threw a rock at the center of it, stopping it.

"Not bad, Jack." Cherry remarked with her hands on her hips.

"Thank you, Cherry, now to save the doctor." Jack said back, then left with her.

Forte observed them quietly. 'She never follows beside me...'

Jack led them to a maze. Only, there were monsters there to attack them. It seemed like Halloween Town was under a monster plague lately. The group then attacked them and Cherry noticed Jack was hurt a bit.

"Jack, are you alright?" Cherry rushed to his aid.

"I'll be fine, I promise you." Jack told her with a small smile.

Forte's eyes flashed laser green and his fangs nearly crept from his gums, watching Cherry pay attention to Jack and not him.

"JAAAACK! I was wondering when you'd get here!"

The group entered the lab and shut the door behind them. They saw in the doctor's laboratory, it was Shock. 

"Think you can reach me?" Shock taunted. "Try it, it's fun! I know I'M having a ball!" she then summoned a huge, monstrous ball pop out. "I don't want to crush your spirits, Jack and Cherry, just your body!" she placed on her mask.

"No time for that now, we have to make it to the top." Jack retorted.

The group carefully made it across the spiral path. They dodged many of the obstacles and tried to catch the little brat. However, once they got there, Shock already made it to the top before them. Once she saw them, she took out her broom and waved the little white flag on it. 

"I'm sorry, guys," Shock said, innocently. "I was only playing a trick!"

"Stop helping Oogie, we mean it!" Jack scolded her.

"Okay..." Shock said, sweetly.

"I don't wanna see you, Lock, or Barrel ever again!" Cherry glared at her.

Shock glared back.

Cherry's eyes turned red and she punched Shock in the face and elbowed her in the stomach, stomping on her back with her sharp feet. Forte looked slightly horrified. Granted that Shock is a terrible child, but it was gruesome to see his bride abuse a child like that. 

 

Shock hissed in pain and glared as the group went to an elevator to find the doctor.


	9. Chapter 9

"Dr.Finkelstein!" Jack ran to the scientist as the elevator stopped. "Why are you doing this?"

"Where's mon petite Felicity?" Forte demanded.

"Ah, Jack," Dr. Finkelstein spoke. "I see you managed to make it back here. You've been busy, Jack. I think it's time for you and your friends to rest." he opened his scalp up to scratch his brain.

Forte cringed slightly, stepping backward.

Cherry looked at his brain and hardened her gaze. "Oogie switched his brain!" she told Jack, looking at him, baring the grim, angered and depressed stoic look on her face.

Dr. Finkelstein wheeled his chair to the center of the room. "Shall we begin? I think you'll like this device. I made it especially for YOU!" he then showed a machine he controlled.

The machine seemed to have been alive and had a mind of its own. It had lasers which aimed at them and had four giant claws which lowered. Forte and Jack seemed worried and wide-eyed and Cherry raised an eyebrow, looking only slightly intimidated. 

"Maman! Papa!" a voice called.

"DAAADDY!" two voices called.

"Flick!" Forte gasped.

"Hexa! Miriam!" Jack added.

The girls rushed over to their respective parents, crying in the reunion and really were happy to see them again.

"Oh, girls, thank goodness you're okay." Jack hugged his daughters close.

"Where's Mom?" Hexa wondered.

"She's back home, you'll see her again soon, I promise." Jack told his eldest girl.

"Papa..." Felicity nearly cried in her father's grip.

"It's okay, enfant..." Forte whispered, comfortingly.

"Maman, I do not want to celebrate Halloween here again, sil vous plait." Felicity sniffled, to Cherry.

"It's okay, Felicity, I suggested we come here for you and your father's first Halloween, I thought Oogie would be gone for good after my last adventure here." Cherry shrugged without shame. She then went to Jack after he stopped coddling and crying with his daughters. "What're we gonna do about the doctor?"

Jack was looking around, in thought. He then saw a tray with Finkelstein's real brain on it. "We have to switch the doctor's real brain to save him... Let's see, if we open his head from behind... Then get in front of him... And throw his real brain in.... Yes, that should work!"

"You touch the brain, I conceived a daughter with Maestro Forte, I say that's enough for me to go by on my level of grossness." Cherry smirked.

Forte glared at her, still holding Felicity in his arms. 

"Anyway, why don't we use this?" Cherry took out the bowl of Sleeping Soup.

"Wait a minute, that's right!" Jack remembered and realized. "We have the Sleeping Soup that Sally made!"

"Is that how we fall asleep after dinner so quickly when you and Mom want to be alone, Dad?" Miriam asked.

"Uhh... Maybe?" Jack smiled, sheepishly.

"Felicity, go give this to the doctor." Cherry placed the bowl on her daughter's head.

"What kind of soup is it, Maman?" Felicity asked, being placed on her feet and balancing the bowl on her head like how she would balance books on her head for posture.

"It's a special soup just for him, now go." Cherry lightly shoved her, trying not to spill any of the broth.

"Okay, Maman." Felicity walked with perfect posture with the bowl on her head. "Monsiuer Finkelstein, my maman would appreciate it if you drank some of this special soup. I am sure it is delicious, but I am not allowed to have any. Bon appetite, monsieur!"

Dr. Finkelstein went to her, seeing she was sweet and innocent. He took the bowl and ate it right up, and fell instantly asleep.

"Oh, my, I think he had eaten too much." Felicity remarked, cautiously.

"Now's our chance!" Jack dashed over to open up the doctor's head.

Suddenly, the doctor woke up. The soup must not have been enough.

"Oh, putain!" Forte cursed, through his teeth.

"No fair, he cheated!" Hexa pointed, awkwardly at the scientist.

Dr. Finkelstein: This town has changed, my boy, since you went away  
Without a Pumpkin King  
It's Oogie Boogie's Way!

Jack: Doctor, please  
Can't you see you're wrong?

Dr. Finkelstein: You were the king  
But now you're nothing but prey  
Oogie Boogie is back and he's planning to stay!

Jack: It's a crazy web you're weaving  
Oogie Boogie will soon be leaving  
Doctor, please, it's not too late!

Dr. Finkelstein: All my machines will seal your fate!  
My lasers will slice you  
My knives will cut you deep

And when it's all over, Sally, she will weep!  
The days of your good natured mayhem are through  
I'll tear up this town

And I'm starting with you!  
Well now, my boy  
It seems you've lost your crown  
In a few mere minutes, you'll be six feet in the ground!

"Probably should have taken that bullet when I had the chance..." Forte turned his back, coldly to Cherry as she watched the fight.

"Excuse me!" Cherry went to him, facing him. "What's with you?"

"What's with moi!?" Forte sneered at her. "Cerise, you are nothing like I remembered, you used to be so sweet and innocent when you were a child, but now you're cold, selfish, and bitter! You're acting like the way I used to act!"

"I thought you would like that! When I was a kid, you told me humanity was entirely overrated, romance was for the weak-minded, falling in love with a complete waste of time!"

"Oh, so it's my fault you're a cold, heartless, bi--"

"DON'T even think of finishing that question." Cherry hissed.

"Well, if the shoe fits, Cerise." Forte poked her nose, looking cross. "I brought Felicity back with me to see you, because I thought you would like to be a mother!"

"I NEVER SAID I WANTED A DAUGHTER, CHARLES!" Cherry shoved him back, against the cold wall. "I only kept her because YOU obviously wanted her! Do you know how dangerous the world could be for Felicity if she grew up in the world we live in? She would probably end up dead if you didn't bite her!"

Forte darted his eyes at her and pinned her right down on the cold floor. "You should be thankful for me... I could've killed you if I wanted to that Christmas 380 years ago!"

"Yeah, but you didn't!" Cherry grunted under his dominating powers. "Why didn't you? You hated everyone, you were the cold, tortured soul in the castle! I was just a prisoner!"

"BECAUSE I WAS SCARED FOR YOU!"

"What?"

"I was scared for you, you were only ten years old and away from your parents to spend the winter in a strange castle with a beastly tyrant for a master! You spent your first Christmas away from home, you saw spring come without your precious mother! You had a nightmare time with us, and I made it worse. I only wanted to comfort you, because I had always wanted a child, but never got to have one of my own until you gave me Felicity!"

"Is that why you're still here?" Cherry asked. "Because of her? Because I gave birth to her with both our genetic make up?"

Forte gripped her by the throat, not caring he was hurting her or not. "Cerise, I thought you and I could become friends... That's why I wanted to give you organ lessons, that's why I would cut out your electricity to have you come visit me so you wouldn't be on that laptop thing you play around with all day on."

Cherry gagged and wheezed.

"I'd rather die than be married to you..." Forte hissed, storming off, letting her go.

Cherry fell straight to the floor and watched him leave, catching her breath. "Charles...?"

Forte turned back at her sharply. "Maestro Forte to you, Cerise..." he then turned back and walked to see Jack had finished his next fighting mission. "Is the doctor back to normal, Jacques?"

Cherry walked over, rubbing her throat. 

"Yes, and he's making a device that will help us defeat Oogie's army." Jack told him with a smile. 

"Jack," Sally came with a green present. "Do you think this will be helpful too?"

"What's this?" Jack wondered, as he took the present. In a twist of snowflakes, the present opened and Jack was in a different outfit. "It's Sandy's costume!"

"Not this again..." Cherry groaned.

"That outfit really suits you!" Dr. Finkelstein laughed. "I completed the scare device." he handed Jack another present. "If I told you what's in it though, that would ruin the surprise! Hide this in your Sandy Bag and use it to stun the monsters."

"Cerise, I'm going with Jack on this mission, you watch your daughter." Forte said, handing their daughter in her arms. 

"Your daughter first, you put her there." Cherry argued.

"You carried her for nine months, you decided to keep her, you birthed her, your daughter." Forte taunted, leaving coldly.

Cherry watched him leave and started to feel funny about the way she had been treating him lately. 

Felicity looked up at her mother with a frown.

"What?" Cherry demanded, looking at her.

Felicity looked like she was about to cry and hopped out of Cherry's arms, running and screaming in fear of her mother.


	10. Chapter 10

Cherry was with Sally and the girls while Forte went with Jack and Thomas to Christmas Town. Forte was a little stingy at first for going to a Christmas world considering how he feels about Christmas these days and what he did. 

He was in love with Cherry though, even from when she was a lost little girl desperate for guidance and mentor-ship. She made him think of Fife when the boy wanted to take up music lessons and needed a mentor, so Forte took Fife in as his apprentice. Forte had also hoped that Cherry would someday become his student and even talked her parents into letting her take lessons with him since she didn't have much of a social life and needed companionship before she would commit suicide, and almost succeeded on her 19th birthday.

The boys entered the pumpkin patch.

"What's wrong with these pumpkins that we have to watch out for, Jack?" Thomas asked. "They seem normal to me and perfect to make a pumpkin pie!"

"Looks are deceiving." Jack advised.

"He's right, boy," Forte glanced at his soul mate's son. "And in a town like this, who knows what can be cooking up in there?"

Jack got in his Santa Claus outfit and took out the Scare Device as the pumpkins started to spew out ghosts.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Forte asked.

"Santa Claus, Dad," Thomas explained. "Don't you know who Santa Claus is?"

Forte shook his head. "We had no such thing when I was growing up..."

"He's a fat guy who eats milk and cookies and gives people presents in their houses on Christmas Eve." Thomas explained further.

"Why on Earth would he do a thing like that?" Forte shuddered.

"Never mind that now, we got business to take care of," Jack took out the Scare Device and threw it against the pumpkin patch. "Merry Christmas!"

Nothing happened. Suddenly, a giant clown head popped out of the Scare Device, making Thomas scream and hide behind the men. Three ghosts hovered over it and the pumpkins were gone.

"Grow up, son, there's no need to fear clowns, they are not scary." Forte said, sharply.

"Oh, I knew that..." Thomas said, his voice shaking.

"Come on, we've got to get rid of them before they turn back into anymore pumpkins." Jack said, leaving with his Soul Robber.

The group smashed the pumpkins. Forte found himself beating a lot with his anger and frustration with his wife built in as he thrashed around him. He even reached deep into a pumpkin and ripped out a human heart-shaped piece of mush and ate it before the pumpkin, looking like a sadistic psychopath. 

 

After a while, the three managed to defeat the Big Pumpkin Head. They then walked off and saw the mischievous trio, wouldn't they learn by now that no one wants to deal with them?

"Hey Jack!" Barrel jumped over with his friends, holding a lollipop. "Want some candy?"

"No thanks, we've had enough of your treats." Jack declined.

"Aw Jack, we're just getting started!" Lock said.

"Our biggest trick has yet to come!" Shock added.

"Shouldn't you three crawl back to the fiery depths of Hell where you emerged from?" Forte growled.

A giant pumpkin root curled up to let the tricky trio continue down the path. 

"You're gonna get so lost," Barrel laughed. "And after what we did to the Mayor's house... Oops! Wasn't supposed to tell ya that, catch ya later, guys!" he dashed off to catch up with Lock and Shock.

The pumpkin root went back in place as the kids wandered off.

"I'm not very fond of those children..." Forte seethed. 

Jack went to the pumpkin root to see what he could do to make it open up again. He then hit it with a scarecrow and it opened up again, allowing them to pass. The group wandered into a maze and kept walking the best they could into town and decided to see the Mayor after what Barrel told them.


	11. Chapter 11

Cherry sighed and went to her daughter. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't been a very good mother to you... Or a good wife to your father..."

"Papa always said you were in a bad mood, that is why you never played with me, talked to me like a real maman, never did anything for moi, Maman!" Felicity snapped back, tears itching her eyes from anger and sadness of being neglected by her mother pratically all her life. "Are you even my real mother!?"

Cherry felt stung by that question. She released a sharp sigh. "Yes, I am your real mother... I'm sorry Flick, I've had a rough life..."

"You are a princess, why do you not just go back home and rule over other people instead of treating Papa and I like slaves or something of that sort?" 

"Because I don't want to be a princess... I'm not sure how to properly raise a child."

"You did fine with my brother, why am I any different than a first born son?"

Cherry sighed again. She sat in a chair as and motioned for Felicity to join her. Felicity hesitated at first, but came over and crawled into her mother's lap. Cherry tightly gripped her so she wouldn't fall. 

"Did you know that Maestro Forte is your father, but not Thomas's?" Cherry asked.

Felicity looked at her. "I thought he was, Maman..."

Cherry shook her head. "You see... A long time ago before you were born and just before Thomas was born, I tried to run away from home after moving into my biological household with an alien royalty alignment. I tried to run away from home because I couldn't bear to live under my father's rules and reign again, so I ran away. While I did, there was a criminal rapist on the loose named Billy Flynn. He loved to rape and abuse young women before killing them."

Felicity gasped in fright, picturing her mother in a dangerous situation. She handled the subject rather maturely for her age.

"He succeded when he raped me, Flick," Cherry continued her story. "I became pregnant with your brother and I felt all alone. I needed someone to help me raise my child besides your Aunt Peach since she had a son not too long ago, your cousin AJ. She suggested that I ask a man who had always wanted children, but never got to have any of his own, someone who had helped raised me when I was very young, I chose your biological father, Maestro Forte."

"Is Tante behind how you and Papa got together, Maman?" Felicity asked, looking up with mild interest.

"Well, yes... Kind of, I never would have thought of being romantically interested in your father before."

"When King Frank made Papa his servant, did you meet then?" Felicity leaned into her arms.

Cherry gently grapsed her daughter in her arms. "No, I knew your father long before then. I was 10 years old when I met your father. He told me to never tell you what happened."

"Sil vous plait tell me, Maman? Papa never liked talking about it."

"I don't know, Flick..."

"Maman.... Sil vous plait..."

Cherry sighed. "Very well, I'll tell you, but you must promise me that you didn't hear it from me. Do you promise?"

"Oui, oui, Maman." Felicity nodded.

Cherry released another sigh. "Do you know what became of the castle before King Adam and Queen Belle were married and had their daughter Gabrielle?"

Felicity thought for a moment. "I heard about a big battle between King Adam and the village leader Gaston."

"Well, there was more to that... I used to be friends with Belle and we went around France, then went into the Black Forest to find out her father had been locked in a dangerous castle," Cherry narrated. "Belle and I took her horse into the castle grounds and went inside to find him and found he was locked in a tower held captive by a wild beast. The castle had been under an enchantment making the master into a hideous, monstorous beast and the servants into furniture."

"What happened to Papa?" Felicity wondered.

"Do not interupt," Cherry icily scolded, then continued. "Your father was turned into his own organ and was bolted to the wall in his room, forbidden from moving like the others. Belle and I traded places to save her father's life and we spent almost all of winter and the beginning of spring in the castle. We were guests and the servants tried to help us adjust. Cogsworth and Lumiere gave us a tour after letting us have some dinner from Mrs. Potts, and Belle was curious of the west wing, even though we were told to not go in there. Belle's curiosity got the best of her. She went to check it out anyway and I went with her to make sure she wouldn't get into trouble."

"Maman...." Felicity sounded surprised that her mother had caring and feelings toward other people. 

"I was a different person back then, Flick." Cherry clarified.

"What changed you?"

"Let's keep listening to Maman, shall we?"

"Oh, okay, sorry Maman. Go on."

"Now, we were in the West Wing," Cherry continued her story of how she met her daughter's father. "Belle and I found a torn-up portrait of Adam back when he was a human prince, saw a bell jar with a glittering rose in it. Belle wanted to touch it, but the Beast put the jar back on and startled us away. Belle ran away into the Black Forest and I ran off further away into the West Wing, and I was welcomed by eerie organ music."

"Papa!" Felicity's eyes lit up.

"Yes, Papa," Cherry glared at her, but tried her best not to frighten her daughter enough already. "I heard the music and went inside, feeling scared. The room was very dark, especially with dimly lit candles. Your father as an organ was rather... Overwhelming to see..."

"Overwhelming?"

"I know pipe organs aren't scary, but in my young mind away from my family, he was rather terrifying as an organ. He could also play very loud and if he played loud enough he could cause deconstruction over the place. Your father also had an interesting motive, unlike the other servants who wanted to be human again, your father did not."

"Why not, Maman?"

"Well, you see, your father has had a very hard life. When he was born, the man he thought was his father abandoned the family, leaving his mother to raise him and his older brother and sister alone, which was rough for a woman of the time. His brother and sister often taunted him and called him out because of his birth and existence."

"But Papa grew up to be a court composer and conduct musical pieces for the King and Queen!"

"Yes, he could and indeed he did, but he was still lonely. Your father never had a real friend growing up, many were frightened of him, some were disgusted by him, some would just plain avoid him. Some thought he was scary, some thought he didn't belong anywhere, some thought he was just odd and didn't really fit in. I was just like that growing up."

"What happened to you after the spell broke?"

"Well, I didn't know this, but your father survived an accident during the Enchanted Christmas and he had earned immortality. I led my life, growing up believing that what he had told me was right and true that humanity was entirely overrated, blossoming love needs to wither on the vines, we grew to be very similar. I couldn't have a way to see him again, sometimes he haunted my nightmares, I used to think he was just a ghost of some kind as I didn't see him much, but thought of him during Christmas. We reunited in my high school years and he had been haunting an abandoned church across the yard from my house."

Felicity kept her eyes on her mother, never taking them off and still staying focused on this intriguing and haunting story about her parents. She had numerous questions and worries, but kept silent for her mother's sake. 

"He then offered me music and voice lessons, seeing as I faded into the background as he usually did in his time," Cherry continued to tell her story. "I never realized this, but your father was slowly falling in love with me, seeing as I had grown into a very beautiful and graceful woman and I was no longer to cute and adorable little girl he once knew. Soon, he had proposed to me."

Felicity beamed with a smile.

Cherry smirked a bit. "Do you have any other questions?"

Felicity yawned like a cute baby and her eyes seemed to have gotten heavy in her mother's grasp. "Maybe later, Maman. I feel quite drowsy at the moment and might need to take my nap now."

"Okay, Flick," Cherry walked, carrying her daughter in her arms and placed her in a guest cot Sally offered to her. "Good night, Felicity." she tucked her in.

"Bon nuit, Maman..." Felicity said, then yawned again and turned in her sleep, falling instantly asleep. "Oh, Maman?"

"Yes, child?"

"Are we going to live in Halloween Town?"

Cherry shook her head. "Non, I promise we'll go back home very soon."

"I really enjoyed my first Halloween with Hexa and Miriam, Maman."

"I'm sure you did, child, now get some sleep."

"Okay, Maman..."

Cherry gently shut the door, allowing her daughter to sleep. Suddenly she felt an eruption in her stomach, turning pale as her daughter and husband. She then weakly went to use the restroom, but found herself collapsing on the floor before she could. 

"Cherry? Cherry!" Sally's voice called, echoing in Cherry's mind.

Shortly after, Cherry woke up with Dr. Jekyll, Sally, Hexa, and Miriam standing over her. Cherry looked around her to see herself in Sally's bed, looking a little faint, but her eyes were a lot brighter than earlier.

"Cherry, are you alright? You didn't look so good earlier, you looked as lively as a Hanging Man." Sally said, sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"What happened...?" Cherry murmured, sounding sick and dizzy.

"You put your daughter down for a nap, then you just fell in the middle of the floor, I believe you fainted." Hexa replied.

"Are you okay, Ms. Cherry?" Miriam added.

"I think so... I just felt funny in my stomach and suddenly, everything went black, I saw spots, but soon it was all black." Cherry replied, trying to recollect everything.

"You probably just had a dizzy spell," Dr. Finkelstein confirmed. "It's probably how your body reacts, Sally did the same, when she tried to get herself pregnant after she married Jack. Though, both Hexa and Miriam had to be aborted in order to be born since Jack is nothing but bones and both girls were recreated into a skeleton and rag doll form."

"Wait, did you say pregnant?" Cherry asked.

"Indeed I did."

"Sally, you don't happen to have any tests, do you?"

"Well, yes, in the bathroom, but Cherry, do you think you're-"

"I'm pretty sure, I might be, may I use your bathroom to check?"

"Sure, try walking though, you had a good rest, so you could try to get on your feet."

Cherry let them step back as she placed her feet on the floor. She wobbled a little, so Hexa and Sally went to her sides to hold her arms as she walked as best as she could carry before falling and making it to the bathroom. Cherry could carry herself inside and shut the door to use a pregnancy test. After a few minutes, everyone waited and they lit up as they saw Cherry come back with a result on the test.

"What does this black spot mean?" Cherry asked. "These aren't like tests back home?"

"They're Halloween Town brand, they're different than what you could be used to, Cherry," Sally replied, trying to explain. "From what I remember, a skull and cross bones meant no, but a black spot meant positive."

"Oh," Cherry bowed her head, then looked back at the test to see the black spot still there. "Wait... It's a black spot... That means..."

"Cherry, you're pregnant..."

"I-I am...?"

Cherry nearly dropped the test of her hands and felt her immortal heart race.


	12. Chapter 12

A few hours passed since Forte had left with the guys. It was a very long time. Sure enough they would be back soon after dealing with Oogie Boogie who was trying to steal all the holidays in the holiday forest to make himself the ultimate holiday king and outshine Jack as the Pumpkin King. There came a knock at the door. Cherry seemed very excited and was eager to see her son and husband again, btu she opened the door to see tricky little Lock, Shock, and Barrel.

"Oh, it's you." Cherry seethed at them.

"Cherry, we're very sorry what we did to you and Jack earlier!" Lock said.

"Yeah, it was just trick-or-treating with a lot of tricking!" Shock added.

"We didn't mean it, honest, Cherry!" Barrel finished.

"I don't believe any of you," Cherry glared at them, sharply. "I never liked you three punks and you three need to get sacked immeditately and go die in a chasm in the layers of Hell like Dante where you belong!"

"You can trust me, Cherry, I wouldn't hurt nobody!" Barrel piped.

"I don't care, you three go away wherever you came from and I'll wait for my son and husband to come back with Jack!" Cherry folded her arms.

The trio backed up to leave.

Cherry saw them leave, then gripped Shock's shoulder. "On second thought, you three stay here. I don't trust you three alone, unsupervised."

"Uhh... We should get back to our treehouse!" Lock cried.

"Uh, yeah, it's very late, Cherry, we need to get some rest!" Shock added.

"Since when do we sleep?" Barrel asked, which made the witch and devil hit him on his head. "Ow!"

"That's it, you're staying with me." Cherry pulled them all in.

Felicity was watching them come in, wearing her nightgown, cotton white socks, and hold her handed down teddy bear. She hadn't seen Lock, Shock, and Barrel much, but something about the three of them made her skin crawl. Felicity saw them come inside with her mother and she hid to the side as they came in, against ther wills.

"Now, what's wrong with you three?" Cherry asked, sitting in a chair next to the fireplace while they sat in a bigger chair across from her together. "Why do you always do what Oogie tells you to? Aren't your parents ashamed of you?"

The trio eyed each other, nervously, then back at her, sadly.

"I need to rest." Cherry stormed off, leaving them by the fire.

Felicity watched her mother leave, then went in the chair, to see them.

"What're you looking at, freak?" Lock scoffed at her.

Felicity winced at the insult, but beared an angry expression. "Maman is probably right. Are your parents not ashamed of the wrong-doing you do in Monsuier Skellington's town? They are probably outright furious with the three of you, égoïste bâtards?" Felicity knew profanity was wrong, but she was too angry with them to care like her parents and Jack, and frankly, almost all of Halloween Town."

The trio flinched at the word 'parents' again. 

"Um... Listen, kid... We don't have parents..." Lock admitted, sounding like he struggled to say that for a long time.

"What?" Felicity was taken aback.

"We don't have parents..." Shock echoed the devil's sentence.

"You do not?" Felicity asked. "You are orphans?"

Lock, Shock, and Barrel nodded.

"Then, who is in charge of your treehouse?" Felicity asked, remembering that they lived there instead of a home like a normal child.

"Well, I am," Lock said, standing and looking into her eyes. "I'm the oldest, so I'm in charge."

"You're also the dumbest!" Shock sneered.

"No, I'm not, Barrel is!" Lock hissed back at her.

"Stop fighting, it's not going to bring her back!" Barrel cried, ducking and crouching as they argued again.

Shock and Lock looked at him, then hung their heads in sad silence.

"Who is she?" Felicity asked, gripping her teddy bear tightly.

Shock looked at her. Since Felicity was a girl too, maybe she could talk with her the easiest. "Our mother..."

"Your maman..." Felicity whispered. "I sort of know how you feel... I sometimes feel like my Maman is never there for me, she is almost never home and always away on adventures. I have had mother substitutes in my life, but my Maman is the only one I really need and care for the most. Papa is a good man, but I need a woman to grow up with to help me understand the world."

"It's not like that for us though, kid," Lock told her. "Our mother abandoned us..."

"A long time ago, long before Cherry came to Halloween Town, there was a beautiful woman who had three children who were very different from each other," Shock narrated. "A devil boy, a witch girl, and a goblin boy. She couldn't take care of three children alone as their father was already gone and she abandoned them to be cared for by respective creatures of Halloween Town to adopt them. She left the devil boy in the care of Lucifer's doorstep, she left the witch girl in the care of the Witch Shop, and she tried to give the goblin boy to a ghoul family. However, a terrible force struck and took the children away before they could have proper homes."

"Oogie Boogie," Barrel confirmed. "He told the children that their parents didn't want them and he raised them to be evil, making all of Halloween Town fearing him and them as well, even if they were just children."

"The children were raised by bad so long, they didn't realize what they were doing were cruel felonies, they only thought of them as child, care-free pranks," Lock continued. "The children were also cursed. They were cursed to be in child form forever, never age, and never die. After a while, they loved the idea of being children forever, but soon, they grew tired of it and were forced to be children for well over 300 years."

Felicity cupped her mouth in shock.

"They kept doing what Oogie and Jack told them to do, not sure of who was the best to listen to," Barrel narrated. "They read a note left on their baskets abandoned into new homes that their mother would return for them. Of course.... She never did..."

Lock, Shock, and Barrel bowed their heads, feeling very sad and empty for what they had been doing in town lately.

"You three are very bad children, but being a child forever is no fun either, I should know." Felicity told them, squeezing her teddy bear.

Lock glanced at her, scoffing. "What would you know?"

"Because I am an immortal, ageless child too." Felicity brushed a pigtail back to show her neck with fang bite marks sunk into it. 

The trio gasped.

"Who would bite you?" Lock asked.

"You look like you couldn't hurt a fly or whack Barrel in the head if you had a chance!" Shock added.

"My Papa bit me," Felicity explained. "He and Maman were worried that during the Mortal Demon war a while back would kill me, so Papa bit me for safety and protection. He even bit my Maman."

"So, your mother is older than she is right now?" Barrel asked.

Felicity nodded.

"How long ago did he bite her?" Shock asked.

"30 years ago." Felicity replied.

The others were shocked again.

"It is tough being immortal, my father has been the same age for 390 years now," Felicity stood up in the chair, facing them. "Even though she is a bad woman, my Maman is right and you trois should be ashamed of yourselves. It may not bring your mother back, but you should think about what you are doing before you do it and bring Hell to Halloween Town. Bon nuit!" she hopped off the chair, going back into the guest room to get back to sleep before her mother would catch her.

The trio watched her leave and looked at each other.

"Maybe she's right, doing this won't bring our mother back." Lock spoke up.

"I feel bad, Lock." Shock sniffled.

Lock held her as she started to cry and he patted her back, stroking her hair, gently. "We don't know better," he started to cry himself, sniffling. "We're only children!"

"We've been children for years!" Barrel started to wail.

The trickster trio started to cry with their long-awaited pain and agony.

"What can we do? Clean up our acts?" Barrel asked.

"That's it, Barrel!" Shock brightened up, smiling at him. "We'll just show Halloween Town we can change!"

"Yeah, but it won't bring out mother back." Lock scoffed.

"Well, I know, but it'll make us feel better than to just cause mischief like we always do! You know, I never really liked Mr. Oogie Boogie."

"Neither have I."

"I concur." Barrel added.

"On three, we do good from now on?" Shock asked, putting her hand out.

Lock and Barrel shrugged and put their hands together.

"Let's do it!" Shock exclaimed, then left with the boys outside the house.

Cherry watched them leave after pouring a glass of black wine for herself. "They always run..." she muttered, about to take a sip.

"Cherry, don't you're with child!" Sally put her hand over the glass rim.

"I'm the mother, and either a corpse or Maestro Forte is the father, I think the child's screwed no matter what I do during pregnancy."

"Why are you so harsh with your husband? He's crazy over you!"

Cherry looked into her eyes. "I just wanted him to feel the pain I felt when I first knew him..."

"He's very sorry for what he did, can't you forgive him? I forgave Jack for kidnapping Santa Claus."

"Yeah, I guess.... I guess I should apologize and tell him about my condition..."

"That's the spirit, when he and Jack come back, you tell him. I'm sure he'll love to hear the news."

"Love... Funny word to discuss around the man known as Charles Forte..."

Cherry lightly chuckled while Sally smiled at her.


	13. Chapter 13

It was taking a very long time until the men would return. Cherry was resting, and it took a while longer than anticipated. She started to have cravings and mild mood swings, but she often had the same few emotions in her regular, everyday life. Anger, depression, and rage. She really missed her husband right now and craved her drinks more than ever.

"Are these vampires going to bite us?" Thomas asked, walking with Jack and Forte to meet the Vampire Brothers after their Thanksgiving quest. 

"They're scaring vampires like everyone else scaring in Halloween Town." Jack assured them.

"Besides, they won't hurt you as long as I'm with you." Forte said, licking his own fangs.

Jack and the guys made it to the Vampire Brothers' house. The door was open, so they walked right inside the mansion, looking around to make sure not to get any surprises. No one answered, but there were four empty coffins. 

Forte snorted at the stereotypical coffins. 

"They sleep in coffins, do you sleep in coffins?" Jack asked as they looked.

"I sleep in a lonely bed in a room far away from my wife." Forte scoffed.

"Where are the vampires, Jack?" Thomas asked.

Jack looked around and found a note written in dried blood. Thomas looked at the note and passed out at the sight of blood. He was pretty bad ass, but the blood was one of his weaknesses. 

"'Oogie has transformed us into four bats. Find us, and put us back in our coffins'." Jack read the note to the guys with him. 

"Bats, I'm not very fond of bats..." Thomas mumbled, coming into consciousness.

"Where are we going to find them?" Forte asked. He then felt a sense in his brain, telling him something from back where Cherry was. "Cerise....What is it?" he asked, his voice fading, hoping she was alright, even after the fight they had about their relationship.

The three men then looked around to find the bats and put them back where they belonged. They left the Vampires Brothers' house and went into the residential area of Halloween Town to look closer and easier. They stopped as it looked like the area had been booby-trapped. There were axes springing around to take their lives and there were two flights of stairs, one went up and the other went down. 

"Thomas, your father and I will grab onto things and go up, you take the other path." Jack coached.

Thomas nodded, surely, and went downstairs, nervously and alone.

Jack helped Forte get up, since he was a very ancient, old man. They were climbing up and saw a giant hole in the fountain spewing out the green water. There were giant skeleton fish out, which made Forte feel a tad bit apprehensive and uneasy. Jack took out his Soul Robber and swung onto a hook. 

"Come on, Maestro!" Jack called.

Forte nodded, then he leaped with all his might, gripping onto Jack and looked down, nervously. For the first time in his life, Forte felt afraid. The hook pulled them across the water and Forte's shoes fell off, hitting the skeleton fish and sinking them. Once the hook came down, both Forte and Jack hopped off. Forte went to the fountain and swiped his shoes, letting the water splash out and putting the shoes back on his tight-covered feet. 

After looking for the vampire bat brothers, the men managed to save them and bring them back to their home. They all ignored the announcements from Oogie taking over Halloween Town and hurried back to transform the brothers back to their normal, blood-less, icy skinned, and soulless selves. 

"Ah, at last, we are back in our old selves." one vampire said.

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"My brothers and I opposed Oogie's plan," another one said. "We told him this wasn't the Halloween you and Miss Cherry wanted. But then he tricked us and trapped us in our bat forms."

"You look undead tired, you should rest." Jack helped the brothers to rest in their coffins.

"Dad, do you turn into a bat?" Thomas asked.

Forte smirked, deciding to humor his foster son. "I can, I jsut choose not to... I am too sophisticated for flying."

"You're afraid of flying, aren't you?"

"Like you wouldn't believe, more than I'm afraid of your mother..."

"Here, Jack," a brother came to Jack before resting in his coffin, handing him a key. "Take this."

"Thanks," Jack took it, closing the coffin. "Rest easy, now. Good night and unpleasant dreams." He came back to Forte and Thomas after another successful quest. He had collected four keys from all four brothers. 

The fourth brother was almost to sleep, but he remembered something important that they were all probably curious about. "Thank you so much, Jack and guests. Now, we can tell you about Oogie's plan. He kidnapped all the other Holiday Leaders."

"He dragged the leaders here, then he stole the Holiday Doors from the Hinterlands. Lock, Shock, and Barrel hid the doors in each area of the town, so the leaders couldn't return home." another brother continued.

"So, that must be Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine's Day and the others." Thomas counted.

"Oogie wants to take over all the other holidays and become the Seven Holidays King." another brother nodded to confirm his calculation.

"The Seven Holidays King? This is intolerable!" Jack gasped.

"Scoundrel..." Forte gritted through his teeth.

"However, unless you find the Holiday doors and return them to the Hinterlands, you won't be able to return the Holiday leaders, even when you find them!" the final brother finished their instructions. "Take back those doors and stop Oogie and his army!" 

The men nodded and left out, heading into town once it was safe again. 

"I sure hope those monsters haven't done anything to the Mayor, he's not the best at handling things by himself." Jack spoke up.

"Why don't we check on this fellow while we're ahead?" Thomas asked properly.

"Probably a good idea, my boy." Forte nodded.

They then made way for the Mayor's house.


	14. Chapter 14

"So, this is the Mayor of Halloween Town?" Forte observed.

"Yes, it is, Maestro," Jack told him. "He's a dear old friend of mine."

"Come on, before it gets too late." Thomas said, going in the house with them.

They walked close the house, cautiously. They looked all around and checked over everything. Jack was about to open the door.

"Jack, up here! Please, help!" a voice called out.

The guys looked up to follow the voice. They looked up to see at the very top of the house, the Mayor was trapped in a cage. 

"HELP!"

"How are we going to get all the way up there?" Forte wondered, scratching his chin.

"Follow me." Jack told them, running down to a path.

Forte and Thomas shrugged, and went to save the Mayor from being in his trap. Suddenly, Oogie monsters came out to attack them. The guys fought the monsters as they made their way to get to the top, defeating them.

"Thomas, you're quite the sport in these fights." Jack observed once they finished.

"I trained a lot in the agent academy," Thomas explained, catching his breath. "Someone needs to protect my mother."

"I'm so proud of you." Forte smiled, holding his face and trying to hold back any tears.

"HELP!" the Mayor continued to cry out.

"Oh, for goodness sake's, we're coming!" Forte growled, looking at him.

The trio finally made it up the stairs and went to save the Mayor. 

"Mayor, are you okay?" Jack cooed.

"Jack!" the Mayor beamed. "Oh, you don't know how happy I am to see your skull. I thought I'd be stuck here forever!"

Jack lowered the cage and let the political figure of the Halloween Town out. Jack and the Mayor talked about the Holiday Doors and all happening around them. Unfortunately, the Mayor didn't know anything about them and the trio let him go away safely and get settled into home. 

Jack knew that he now had to get the town back as soon as possible and save all the other holidays. They came away from the Mayor's house and ran into three little visitors. Jack was really getting tired of seeing them again.

"Well, well, if it isn't the three little pranksters again." Jack sighed.

"Go away, children, we don't wish to trick or treat you." Forte scoffed.

"You're not still working for Oogie, are you?" Jack demanded.

"We weren't working, we were playing." Lock told him.

"And winning." Shock added.

"Another round, guys?" Barrel asked.

"It's time you three learned that all games must come to an end!" Jack snapped at them.

"Jack, we didn't mean all those tricks earlier!" Shock cried.

"Like we're going to believe you three!" Thomas sneered. He then went to beat them up and he tied them up to a tree.

"Hey, let us go!" Barrel cried.

"No, way, you three are going to stay there until all of this is over!" Jack sounded unsympathetic. 

"Yes, it's true, we bought Oogie back, but we can explain!" Shock sounded like she was going to cry from the pain and misery.

"We've had enough of you, you're going to be punished and that's final, you're in big, big trouble," Jack scolded. "Come on, boys, we have a score to settle." he left with the other men, heading for Independence Day.

"Well, guys, I guess we deserve this." Lock admitted.

"Felicity was right, we needed to stop and learn our lesson." Shock added.

"I told you!" Barrel looked at them.

Lock and Shock hissed at him, looking angry.

"It's your fault! Mom was probably a witch and Dad was probably a devil and you ruined their children by being born a goblin!" Lock seethed at him.

"Hey, I didn't choose to be born, you know!" Barrel lashed back.

"That's right, we could've killed you right when you were born before we were abandoned by Mom! It's all your fault!" Shock yelled at him.

The three children found themselves bickering in their trap, then suddenly, Lock spoke up to stop it.

"Stop! Stop! Guys, quit it!" Lock spoke up, over their arguing which made them pay attention to him. "Look at us, fighting and hurting each other! Is this how we want Mom to remember us?"

Shock and Barrel looked at each other, then at him.

"I don't know about you, but I think we should prove to Jack that we can be good. It might not bring Mom back, but at least we can live in this town without a bad reputation as the worst and hideous trick or treaters of Halloween Town." Lock continued.

"Yes, we promised to be good, and look at us now, we have to show them we can be good." Shock agreed.

"For, Mom!" Barrel beamed.

"For, Mom!" Lock and Shock agreed.

"Now, how are we gonna get down here, Barrel?" Shock asked.

Barrel looked away sheepishly. "I have no idea..."

Lock groaned at him, shaking his head.

"Idiot..." Shock mumbled.


	15. Chapter 15

Jack, Thomas, and Forte were still gone a while. Cherry found herself holding her stomach and moaning, though with pleasure and not pain. She was indeed in great pain, but she found herself aroused by it. Probably due to her relationship with Forte as they shared common interests in gothic subculture and found torture to be quite kinky reminiscent of Gomez and Morticia Addams. Felicity must be a premature Wednesday and the soon to be new addition to the family would be among the lines of Pugsley if born a boy. 

"Miss Cherry, are you okay?" Miriam asked.

"Ooh, my baby is kicking my ovaries..." Cherry moaned, still holding herself. "I hope it lasts forever..."

"Why is your baby hurting you, Miss Cherry?" the rag doll daughter asked.

"The baby's just growing and developing, Miriam," Hexa explained to her younger sister. "Babies tend to kick once they develop longer inside the mother. Do you need some rest, Miss Cherry?"

"Could you get me something to drink? This is actually kind of killing me." Cherry requested.

"Sure, we'll be right back." Miriam said, walking out the room.

"We'll get you some cookies too, I know you'll enjoy the sweets." Hexa added with a stitched grin.

Cherry smirked at them, then continued to hold herself.

"Maman?" Felicity came over.

"Felicity Precious Chantal Forte, why are you up so late? You're not your father, you better be sick or dying." 

"I came to check on you, I heard you screaming and crying earlier."

"Oh, I guess you were asleep during this... Maman is pregnant, enfante."

"Pregnant?" Felicity tilted her head.

"Yes, do you know what that means, Flick?"

"Umm... Not really, Maman... What is 'pregnant'?"

Cherry sighed, rubbing her head. "Maybe I should tell you when you're older..."

Felicity had a straight, slightly angered face. "Maman... I am not going to get older... Besides, we might as well bond as a good mother and daughter while Papa is away... He has to tell me everything I need to know when my mother should be telling me about growing up as a woman. Papa always says 'Ask your mother', or 'Your mother will tell you', well tell me now, Maman!"

Cherry sighed and got comfortable, holding her stomach. "Well... Flick, when a girl starts to grow up, she starts having feelings for certain people... Sometimes those people love each other very much, and one day, the woman feels like she's going to have a baby. So the baby is like a seed and the mother's belly is like a garden and the father is like the planter."

"What did Papa do to you to make you grow an enfante in your stomach?"

"Well... Your father and I rarely do this... but... We made love..."

Felicity looked ultimately shocked and surprised. "You and Papa make love?"

"Of course we do, that's how you were conceived!"

"AJ always wondered how I was ever conceived..."

"Your father was drunk, it was the middle of the night, he's actually not bad for a 390 year old man..."

"He tied your hands to the headboard, did he not?"

Cherry glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. 

"Sorry, go on, Maman." Felicity looked sheepish.

"Thank you," Cherry cleared her throat to continue. "Well, sometimes the baby in the mother's stomach can make the mother experience some strange things inside of her body. Sometimes, in the morning, she throws up, she gets strange cravings, and sometimes gets more violent than usual with mood swings."

"Is the baby doing that to you now?"

"Yes, a little.... He or she is punching my ovaries..."

"He or she? Do you not know if it is a boy or a girl?"

"Well, honey, we don't know yet... And since we're away from a baby doctor, we won't know until the baby is born. If it's a boy, you'll have a baby brother, but if it's a girl you'll have a baby sister."

"A new enfante..." Felicity's voice sounded distant. She remembered the stories that her cousin AJ told her when Mercedes and Peter were born. AJ mentioned that Mercedes was a little pain and Mercedes grew extremely jealous when Peter was born and hogging all of the attention. Felicity worried that would happen to her, the new baby would come and steal her parents away from her. 

"I just wonder how your father will react, I could've sworn he cried the first time he saw you when you were born," Cherry took the glass of water that Miriam brought her. "Thank you, dear."

"Have a cookie," Hexa offered on a silver tray. "Careful, they bite back."

Cherry chuckled slightly, taking a cookie before it could bite her finger off. 

'I need to make sure once this enfante is born it does not steal Maman and Papa from me, Maman and I were just getting along now!' Felicity thought to herself, seeing the bump in Cherry's belly grow slightly.

"Mom says you can sleep in her bed to get some rest, that baby must be threatening your bodily functions." Hexa offered.

"Thanks, Felicity, I'm going to get some rest, you do the same until your father and half-brother come home." Cherry did her best to stand on her legs, holding her stomach and nearly wobbling. 

Felicity watched her mother leave and grew determined to get rid of her new baby brother or sister as soon as they are born so she can have both her parents to herself like she never had the chance when she was younger. She went to the guest room, pulled her blanket over her after Sally closed the door to let her sleep. Felicity lit a candelabra and schemed and drew battle plans on some paper as she plotted against her new sibling. She was now experiencing an emotion she never had before: Jealousy. 

After a long while, Jack, Thomas, and Forte came. They had saved most of the holidays, but they were on the way to find Santa Claus and save him from Oogie's wrath. They had faced the boogeyman and defeated him, as of for now. The holidays were almost all safe and all would be right in the holiday world of old in the middle of the forest. The guys came to rest for a while.

"I'm tired of this adventure," Forte panted. "No wonder Cerise is so wore out when she comes home."

Thomas turned back to him. "You mean, since you and Mom moved out, she's been away from home a lot?"

"Oh, oui, she goes away for a very long time, boy. We never know when she'll be home next, she goes away. The longest she's been gone was the whole year your sister was seven. Not like you care for your sister..."

"I do now," Thomas frowned. "I was just jealous she came from a loving man for a father and I was born from an unfortunate accident."

"Oui, your mother's rape was a little hard on all of us before you were born... We all protected and cared for her though, your aunt is always trying to keep Billy Flynn in the slammer for what he did to her 'mate' as she puts it."

Zero came up and greeted Jack. 

"Oh, there's the best dog in the underworld!" Jack picked up with a smile. 

"That's a mighty cool dog." Thomas smiled.

The guys came closer and closer to see the girls.

"Papa!" Felicity squeaked and rushed to hug her father's leg.

"Oh, erm... Hello, there, Fliss..." Forte was surprised by her affection. 

"Welcome home," Felicity nuzzled with him. "Oh, Papa, I have missed you most of all."

Jack and Thomas looked down at the father and daughter reuniting, then looked back at each other.

"Miss Felicity, are okay?" Jack asked.

Felicity let go of her father, smiling at the skeleton. "Oui, I am fine. Maman is fine too, but she is in bed right now resting."

"In bed resting?" Forte wondered. "What's the matter with her?"

"She is... Umm... Well, maybe she should tell you, Papa..." 

"Umm... Alright... Excuse moi." Forte decided to leave and check up on his wife. Maybe he was too harsh on her earlier when they argued about their relationship.

"Sally, is Cherry going to be okay?" Jack asked.

"She'll be just fine, it's just hormones, I'm sure." Sally replied. "Did you all stop Oogie?"

"We've almost got him, we saved all the holidays in the Hinterlands." Thomas explained.

Felicity stared at the adults conversing. She growled slightly that she wasn't the center of attention. If it's this way now, how could it get any worse with some new baby in the house? Felicity took a knife and went to the room her parents were in together now.

"What's wrong, Cerise?" Forte asked, sitting on the bed while Cherry was under the covers.

"They didn't tell you?" Cherry asked, keeping her head and body down to rest herself and the unborn child.

"Non, tell me what?"

"Well, I think you'll be glad to know this..."

Cherry handed him the pregnancy test. Forte took it and wasn't sure how to react to it. He didn't come from a time with pregnancy tests and the brand from Halloween Town was just not as helpful for him. 

"Cerise, I don't understand." Forte faced her.

"It's a pregnancy test, a black spot means positive and a skull and cross bones means no." Cherry explained, remembering what Sally told her.

Forte nodded, now understanding. He looked at the test again, seeing the inky black splodge. He then looked at Cherry, his mouth agape and putting a hand to his mouth. "Cerise... You're pregnant....?"

"Yes," Cherry sat up, slightly. "You've been gone for a while, so I'm a month in now. You can still go help Thomas and Jack with getting revenge on Oogie for taking over Halloween Town, I'll be alright here."

Forte declined. "Non, I missed the birth of Felicity and she was almost killed by your true father. I will stay with you until this whole adventure is over and until the birth of our child commences," he held her warm hand in his icy hand. "We had been separated enough. I'm very sorry about our argument, Cerise and I promise to stand by you. You may call me 'Charles' again."

"Thanks, Maestro." Cherry replied, coldly keeping the title as she was still a little cross with their argument earlier. 

Forte was stung by her remark, but stayed by her in case she needed anything. 

Felicity glared from the door-frame. She then charged with the knife, unleashing an unlady-like battle cry. Forte noticed her, stood in front of her and picked her up off the floor to prevent her from stabbing her mother's pregnant stomach, thus killing the baby inside. 

"Flick, what are you doing?" Cherry demanded, very weary and sick from this whole pregnancy.

"I do not want a little brother or sister, they will steal you both from moi!" Felicity whined, wriggling in Forte's grip.

"The baby is coming if you want it to or not, but you are not killing the baby." Forte scolded, taking the knife from her plucky hand.

"Put moi down, sil vous plait, Papa!"

"Non, Felicity, I am not letting you do this. This is very unlike you..."

"But, Papa!"

"No, buts, go to the guest room! This conversation is over, young lady! I am gratefully disappointed in you! We'll talk about this later when we're not under the wrath of a hostile boogeyman!" Forte placed her down and gently shoved her out the door. "Now, run along." 

Felicity sighed, seeing she couldn't do anything from here. She then left the room and went to the room she was sleeping in as a guest in the Skellington/Finkelstein home. 

Forte buried his hands in his face, slowly turning. "I'm sorry about that, Cerise, I don't know what came over--" his eyes widened as he removed his hands to see Cherry stripped down to her undergarments. "Her..." 

"You can talk, go on, I'm listening." Cherry allowed him, crossing her legs in a suggestive manner. 

Forte gulped, put his neckerchief around the doorknob on the outside and shut the door. 

"Jack, I feel it's best for Cherry and Maestro Forte if you continue this journey against Oogie alone, they need to rekindle their marriage." Sally advised while Hexa was helping Miriam get to bed. 

"I agree," Jack nodded. "And I'll look out for Lock, Shock, and Barrel. Those three cannot be trusted. No matter how much they promise, they always go back on it and when I turn my back, they're being tricky again."

"What can I do?" Thomas asked.

"Just take care of your mother and help your father, maybe your sister too, she seems to be in great distress."

"Okay, good luck, Jack."

"No problem, I stopped Oogie before, I can do it again. Your mother helped me."

"She did?" Thomas couldn't believe it.

"Oh, yes, your mother is one of Halloween Town's best heroes." Sally assured him.

Thomas smiled a little and continued to rest with the others through another rough night in town.


	16. Chapter 16

Jack went to the Hinterlands to rejoin the holiday leaders together while everyone else stayed with Cherry to make sure she got enough rest and all the comfort she could get from away home. Jack had allowed Felicity to come with him so she can get her mind off the new baby for a little while. 

"Charles,...where.... is... Flick?" Cherry asked, weakly.

Forte shushed her and gently held her down in the bed she was staying in. "You need all the rest you can get..." he squeezed her hand.

Cherry nodded, then slowly fell asleep. Forte sat in a chair beside the bed, not leaving her side. He almost never slept, especially since back home they had separate bedrooms. Sometimes he snuck into her bed and pretended to be asleep so he would be able to sleep with her and she would have to deal with it. 

"Good night, Miriam." Hexa told her younger sister.

"Good night, Hexa..." Miriam said back, yawning and turning in her bed to get some rest.

Hexa smiled and passed Thomas in the hallway. "Unpleasant dreams."

"Umm... Thanks." Thomas smiled sheepishly.

Hexa smiled back and saw Sally up and about. She knew that her mother always worried whenever Jack would be away for a long time. "You gonna be okay, Mom?"

Sally flinched, because she didn't notice Hexa was around watching her. "Oh, honey, I didn't see you there. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Dad'll be okay too, I know it, he's the Pumpkin King." 

"I know, dear, but I sometimes wish I could go out there and help him..." 

Hexa patted Sally's hand. "Try to get some rest."

"Thank you, dear, good night now."

Hexa and Sally parted as mother and daughter. Hexa went to her bedroom, shut the door and went into her bed to catch up on some rest. She lay in her bed, petting Zero as he decided to sleep under her bed tonight. 

Outside the Skellington house, there was a wicked chuckle. There came a shadowed figure from the shadow in the moon at night. It then crept closer and closer, going toward Hexa's window in specific. It opened her window and laughed darkly.

"Huh?" Hexa woke up suddenly and saw the feared and hated Oogie Boogie. "Oh, man, it's you!"

"I'm afraid so, Pumpkin Princess, you're coming with me!" Oogie demanded, grabbing her. "I'm going to be the Boogie King and with you as my Boogie Queen!"

"Queen!? I'm not gonna be your queen!"

"Oh, yes, you are!"

"Oh, no, I'm not!"

Whether Hexa liked it or not, she was being kidnapped by Oogie Boogie and she was being taken to his lair. Zero had seen the whole thing. He might be a ghost dog, but he could still alert his family. He rushed out Hexa's bedroom door, barking and alerting the whole household. 

Miriam came out of her bedroom, yawning. The others either didn't hear Zero or just decided to ignore him as they needed their rest after all this mess of Oogie being brought back to life. Miriam looked down, rubbing her eye as she saw the family dog.

"Zero, what is it?" Miriam asked, groggily.

Zero frantically barked and yipped about Hexa's kidnapping. He hoped that Miriam would understand the message and they could help bring her back home.

"Hexa's been kidnapped?"

Zero nodded sadly and started to whimper.

"Oh, Zero, don't blame yourself," Miriam kneeled down and held him in her stitched grasp. "It's not your fault. It's that big, dumb, Oogie Boogie Man."

Miriam looked all around her to make sure she wouldn't get in trouble for staying up so late. She went to her bedroom and sewed herself a battle outfit with a backpack and took a bow and arrow set. Zero growled and looked ready to take on Oogie with her. Miriam growled back and they left the house, rushing about. 

Thomas saw the whole thing out his guest room window. "Oh, be careful rag doll girl..." he said, quietly.

Cherry slept soundly while Forte nearly fell asleep in the chair he was sitting in. They both seemed to be fine and didn't notice that Miriam and Zero had left to rescue Hexa. They been through a lot today after a simple request that Felicity has her first Halloween in the perfect spot to practice. 

A bolt of lightning flashed outside while Hexa was held hostage by the Oogie Boogie Man as he kept convincing her to become his Oogie Queen while he would be the Oogie King. 

"Come on, babe, just think of the fame and glory!" Oogie continued. "We'll rule this town together and call it Oogie Town! You'll be a Queen and not just some Pumpkin Princess!"

"I don't care!" Hexa huffed. 

"Don't worry, I'll make it official once the seven holiday leaders won't stand a chance to be rescued by your pathetic father."

Hexa didn't like that smart remark. She kicked Oogie in the face. Yes, she was restrained, but her legs were very flexible and nimble. Probably helps that she has strong femur bones from her father.

"Why, you little!" Oogie grunted in pain. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" Hexa asked with a smug grin, though she didn't mean her apology.

Oogie growled at her. "You're just not used to this welcoming yet. You will become my queen, little Hexa!"

"I'm not little... I'm the daughter of Jack Skellington, famed and forever always will be Pumpkin King of Halloween Town!"

Oogie stepped back as music started. 

Oogie: Well, well, well  
Who do we think we are?  
The daughter of the Pumpkin King?

I'll show you what it means to be scared!  
You're joking, you're joking  
You don't wanna be my Queen

You're joking me, you gotta be  
That decline seems morally obscene!  
You're young, though do-able

I'll provide you the best meals and choices  
You better pay attention, girl  
'Cuz I'm the Boogeyman

And since you're refusing, you must know you're very wrong  
'Cuz if you reject, this will be the last time you hear the Boogie Song

Oogie spun her on the wheel he had her strapped in, laughing. He then pulled his face close to kiss her on the lips. Hexa pushed him back, absolutely disgusted. 

"I'd rather kiss a gingerbread man in Christmas Town than to kiss you, you bag full of bugs!" Hexa snapped.

Oogie growled. "So stubborn, I'll show you!" he stormed off, passing his minions. "Lock, Shock, Barrel, make sure she doesn't try anything funny." he left, slamming the door.

The three tricky kids shivered at him, and felt worse with Hexa held hostage.

"You, three!" Hexa called, making them face her in sheer terror. "I swear one day you will all pay for this!"

"Don't mention it." Lock sighed.

"We're already payin' for it." Shock added.

"Come on, Mr. Oogie Boogie Man won't be back for a while, why don't we free her?" Barrel suggested.

Lock pounded him on the head. "Cuz we'll get in a lot of trouble, Albert Frankenstein!" he snapped, sarcastically.

"We should at least try it, I'm tired of Mr. Oogie Boogie pushing us around, let's help Hexa!" Shock sounded confident about Barrel's idea.

"I guess you got a point there..."

"Sure I do, come on!"

"Barrel, you keep watch!"

Barrel nodded and went to the door. "Hey, wait a minute! Why am I on guard duty?"

"Cuz if we get in trouble, you'll get hurt first." Lock replied, going to the skeleton girl.

Barrel grunted then, folded his arms, standing watch for their superior. 

"What are you three up to now?" Hexa demanded.

"We're going to save you." Shock said, looking for the switch to unstrap her.

"Why should I believe you three?" Hexa turned to the devil boy.

"Trust me, you're better off not knowing... We... Had an epitaph or whatever to be good now..." Lock responded.

Hexa hummed, still in doubt. Suddenly the door opened on Barrel and there came Miriam with an arrow arched to take down any enemy with Zero on her side. Lock and Shock waved their arms and tried to shush her.

"Don't worry, Hexa, I'll save you!" Miriam yelled, proudly.

"NOOO!" the three little monsters cried.

Oogie stormed in right then. "Aww... Isn't that precious? The little rag doll girl thinks she can save her big sister!"

Miriam darted her eyes at him, holding the arrow. She flung it, nearly holding one of his stubby arms to the wall.

"WHOA!" Oogie yelled.

"Whoa...." the trio was shocked by her sportsmanship.

"Let go of my sister and maybe I'll go easy on ya!" Miriam growled.

Zero barked violently and growled aggressively as well to show he meant business like his young mistress.

Miriam shot more arrows and held him down. She then shot up in the air and pounced on him.

"Oh, please, spare me, I'll do anything you want! Just have mercy on me!" Oogie cried, sounding legitimately scared of her.

Miriam looked at him heartlessly, then ripped open one of his seams.

"NO!" Oogie cried.

Miriam grabbed a stitch and jumped down, ripping him apart. Hexa looked slightly repulsed of the inside of Oogie. She had heard the story of his death and defeat before revenge, but this was too gruesome, even for her. 

Lock, Shock, and Barrel reacted with fear and disgust. 

"As for you three, you're getting severally punished for all the trouble you caused and kidnapping my sister!" Miriam hissed at them.

"Wait, you don't understand, we're good now!" Lock cried.

"Yeah, right!" Miriam came closer.

"It's true, just ask that Felicity kid!" Shock added, tears streaming down her face.

"We're good, we promise!" Barrel added.

Miriam came close to them, making them black out suddenly. Hexa shut her eyes during that and when she opened them, she saw that she was saved by her younger sister. 

"Thank you, Miriam, I'm so proud, I just wish Mom and Dad were here to see it." Hexa smiled, hugging the younger girl.

Miriam smiled, hugging her tightly back. "I'm so glad you're okay. Even though you'd become a Queen."

"Are you kidding? I'd never be that sick-o's queen! But it looks like thanks to you, Oogie will never be back to cause trouble for Halloween Town again."

"Same with that devil, witch, and goblin."

"That was a little extreme."

"Yeah, but they do extreme, tricky stuff all the time. They got what they deserved."

"I suppose..."

"Come on, let's get home, maybe when we wake up again, Dad'll be home!"

Hexa smiled and followed Zero and Miriam home. Lock, Shock, and Barrel's bodies were left. There was a pool of crimson and inky black liquid around them and they weren't moving at all. It seemed as though, like Oogie Boogie, they had been killed. They probably had it coming for a long time since they were raised to be evil and do nothing but trick people expecting treats. 

Lock opened his eyes and he moaned. "Wow... That hurt a lot..."

"How do you think I feel?" Barrel asked in defense, being the more abused one of the bunch.

"We probably deserved it," Shock plucked the arrow out of her side. "Guys... You know what?"

"What?" Lock and Barrel asked.

Shock sniffled. "I wish it killed us..."

Lock and Barrel rushed to hug her. "Us too!"

The three troublesome children looked at the remains of Oogie Boogie.

"We're not gonna bring him back, we promised for real this time." Lock declared.

The others nodded in agreement. No more tricks. 

"I wish we were dead..." Lock mumbled.

"I wish we were with Mom..." Shock mumbled as well.

"I wish when we'd say trick or treat we'd get candy somehow..." Barrel mumbled, randomly.

The others looked at him, but they felt he was right.

"Come on, let's say sorry to everyone in town before Jack comes back so then maybe everyone will believe us." Lock suggested.

"I'm going to miss this tree house... It's been our home forever..." Shock looked back at the remains as they packed up and left their old place for good. 

They all shared one last look. They thought of the fond memories they had riding around in their bathtub, tricking everyone, but they were threats of the town. No one liked them, but most of all, they didn't like themselves.

Lock didn't like his bossiness toward his cohorts. Shock didn't like that she was the only girl and couldn't make friends or do anything really witchy.She wanted to work in the Witch's Shop when she would grow up, but she knew that wouldn't happen. Barrel just wanted to be a trick or treater and get free candy every year on the best day in all of Halloween Town.

The trio left, kept Oogie aside and went find a new place to call home until they would leave Halloween Town forever, feeling unneeded and unwanted to this town. They all love it now, the townspeople, but no one liked Oogie's boys.


	17. Chapter 17

Jack and Felicity came back about an hour after the Skellington girls came back home from Oogie's lair. 

"Oh, there you are." Cherry bent down, picking up her little girl and lifting her up.

"Is all okay?" Forte asked.

"Yes, all of the Holiday Leaders are saved," Jack replied. "I'm afraid I just have to deal with Oogie Boogie now."

"Actually, your daughters took care of him and Lock, Shock, and Barrel." Cherry responded.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Hexa was kidnapped by that Boogie Oogie or whatever he is, but Miriam slashed him and those three terrible children," Forte explained. 

"Oh, no!" Felicity sounded dreadfully worried about the tricky trick or treaters of the town.

"They deserve it, Felicity, those three are dead now and nothing can bring them back, thank goodness." Cherry said, coldly.

"I even managed to save Sandy Claws." Jack sounded proud.

"For the umpteenth time, it's Santa Claus, Jack."

"That's what I said, Sandy Claws."

"Santa Claus."

"Sandy Claws."

"Okay, say 'Santa'."

"....Santa."

"Now say 'Claus'."

"Claws."

"Now say, Santa Claus."

"Sandy Claws."

"This is a curse to my digestive track." Cherry put Felicity down and grabbed her waist as pregnancy was kicking the snot out of her.

"Well, I'm lucky to have such brave daughters, I think it's a little extreme though that they killed Oogie and those little ones," Jack remarked, getting off subject for her sake. "I think we're all good. Oogie cannot take over our town now."

"Your girls really took out the trash, Jack, time for back to bed."

The adults went to bed. Felicity watched them leave and she gently sighed. She then heard the doorbell go off. It was very late now and she needed her rest, but something told her to answer the door, so she did. Her boots squashed on the wooden tiled floor as she opened the door to see Lock, Shock, and Barrel.

"Trick or treat!" they all cried, like normal.

"What are you trois doing here?" Felicity asked, smiling to see her newly made friends. She then frowned instantly. "I thought you were killed by Miriam."

"We were, but we decided to leave Halloween Town forever." Lock started to explain.

"We also wanted some candy along the way, you see, we never got to have Halloween candy as our own before." Shock added.

"Care to make a donation?" Barrel finished.

Felicity looked at them and smiled. She had heard of what adults do for children on Halloween and decided it would be best. She put a bunch of stools together in Jack and Sally's kitchen, climbed up on them and opened the top cupboard to see a big bag of candy. She reached, grabbed it, but fell backwards from clumsiness. Thankfully, she landed on a pillow that broke her fall.

"Sacre bleu, that was close!" Felicity breathed, standing on her feet and going to deliver candy to the trio. 

Lock, Shock, and Barrel kept their smiles and brightened up once they saw Felicity come back with the candy.

"Some for you, some for you, and some for you." Felicity poured candy into their bags making them evenly full. "What do you say?"

"Uhh... I dunno, what do we say?" Lock asked.

"When someone gives you something you want, you say merci, or in English, 'thank you'." Felicity instructed to them.

"Oh, okay." Lock sounded better.

"Thank, you!" Lock and Shock said together.

"Merci!" Barrel added, laughing a little. "Say, Felicity, you talk kinda funny... Where are you from anyway?"

"I am not exactly sure," Felicity shrugged. "My maman is American and my Papa is French, and spent most of his life in Province France. I am just like them, only I am not as good at French and English like my parents are naturally. I feel I should use both English and French to talk with them."

"Oh, okay, thanks again for the Halloween candy." Shock smiled. She even did something she never did with somebody before. She hopped into the door and hugged Felicity.

Lock and Barrel were very surprised by Shock's gesture. 

"Oh, umm... You are welcome, Choc." Felicity smiled sheepishly in the witch girl's grip.

Shock giggled and let go of Felicity. "We really appreciate it." She then turned to the boys. "What? Can't I hug a friend?"

"We just never saw you do it, we never hugged anybody!" Lock pointed out, still looking shocked.

Barrel nodded, silently.

Shock smirked and went to hug and kiss them. Both the boys gagged and Felicity laughed at the gestures.

"FLICK! BED! NOW!" Cherry sharply called from upstairs.

"I-I am coming!" Felicity called back, nervously. She then turned to her friends. "I am going to bed now, we will hang out more later, okay?"

"Okay, see you later, Flick." Shock waved.

"Goodbye, Flick!" Lock added.

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" Barrel finished, laughing.

Felicity frowned. "You do not want to be me?"

"Oh, no, it's a joke," Barrel explained. "People say it when they leave friends, but it's not mean, I promise."

"Oh, okay, au revior, guys." Felicity smiled and let them get home so she could get to bed. Felicity climbed into her bed and cuddled with her teddy bear.

Thomas came in to check on her. She was sound asleep by the time she slept in the guest bed. He then noticed her comforter was nearly all the way off her. He thought maybe she was tossing and turning a lot in the bed, and knocked it off. Thomas went over and tucked her in, making her feel warm and safe in the bed.

"Night, night, little Flick." Thomas whispered, now interested and looking out for his little sister. 

Felicity then formed a smile suddenly in her sleep, but didn't notice the gesture. 

Lock, Shock, and Barrel walked together, looking at their candy rewards. 

"Ooh, my favorite!" Barrel beamed once he took out a black lollipop with orange swirls. "What did you guys get?"

Lock rummaged through his pumpkin pail, taking out his favorite candy he earned from Felicity. "Red hot cinnamon gum!"

"I got a chocolate bar!" Shock smiled, nibbling at it already.

The trio couldn't believe it, they finally earned Halloween candy. They were really happy and good friends. They still knew that Halloween Town would hate them, they had to live somewhere else. But, where could they leave to? A bright white light flashed against them and they looked up to see the clouds spreading and opening up around them. The trio walked closer to it and found themselves floating. 

"What's happening to us?" Lock looked around.

"I don't know!" Shock cried, sounding scared.

Barrel screamed as they floated up and the clouds closed on them. Barrel still screamed once they came to a cloudy paradise. 

"Where are we?" Lock looked around.

"Better not be that Easter Town again." Shock shuddered, remembering they went there instead of Christmas Town for Santa Claus to kidnap into Halloween Town.

"Hello, my children..." a magical voice said to them.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel looked around. 

"Who said that and why are we dressed like this?" Lock asked, noticing they weren't in their Halloween costumes, but in white robes. 

"You're in a better place now..." a tall, thin woman with black hair like Shock reaching below her waist with a white skunk stripe and in a robe like them. She also had slime green eyes like Barrel and pointy teeth like Lock. "Do you remember me, children?"

The trio's eyes widened. "Mother!"

The woman smiled, picked them up at once and hugged them. "Oh, I missed you all so much... and now you're back... Luna, Samson, and Bradley..."

"Huh?" the kids asked at once.

"Our names with Lock, Shock, and Barrel." Lock clarified.

"Actually, your names are Luna, Samson, and Bradley," their mother told them. "I named you those names before I disappeared and was killed for my powers of goblins, witches, and devils. Oogie Boogie must have renamed you."

"Should we go by Luna, Samson, and Bradley then?" Barrel asked.

"You go by whatever you want, my children," their mother smiled. "I can understand though, you have been Lock, Shock, and Barrel for hundreds of years before. I'm just glad you're back in my grasp and we can be together before."

The kids smiled. "This is the best Halloween ever!" they cheered.


	18. Chapter 18

Jack and Felicity came back about an hour after the Skellington girls came back home from Oogie's lair. 

"Oh, there you are." Cherry bent down, picking up her little girl and lifting her up.

"Is all okay?" Forte asked.

"Yes, all of the Holiday Leaders are saved," Jack replied. "I'm afraid I just have to deal with Oogie Boogie now."

"Actually, your daughters took care of him and Lock, Shock, and Barrel." Cherry responded.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Hexa was kidnapped by that Boogie Oogie or whatever he is, but Miriam slashed him and those three terrible children," Forte explained. 

"Oh, no!" Felicity sounded dreadfully worried about the tricky trick or treaters of the town.

"They deserve it, Felicity, those three are dead now and nothing can bring them back, thank goodness." Cherry said, coldly.

"I even managed to save Sandy Claws." Jack sounded proud.

"For the upteenth time, it's Santa Claus, Jack."

"That's what I said, Sandy Claws."

"Santa Claus."

"Sandy Claws."

"Okay, say 'Santa'."

"....Santa."

"Now say 'Claus'."

"Claws."

"Now say, Santa Claus."

"Sandy Claws."

"This is a curse to my digestive track." Cherry put Felicity down and grabbed her waist as pregnancy was kicking the snot out of her.

"Well, I'm lucky to have such brave daughters, I think it's a little extreme though that they killed Oogie and those little ones," Jack remarked, getting off subject for her sake. "I think we're all good. Oogie cannot take over our town now."

"Your girls really took out the trash, Jack, time for back to bed."

The adults went to bed. Felicity watched them leave and she gently sighed. She then heard the doorbell go off. It was very late now and she needed her rest, but something told her to answer the door, so she did. Her boots squashed on the wooden tiled floor as she opened the door to see Lock, Shock, and Barrel.

"Trick or treat!" they all cried, like normal.

"What are you trois doing here?" Felicity asked, smiling to see her newly made friends. She then frowned instantly. "I thought you were killed by Miriam."

"We were, but we decided to leave Halloween Town forever." Lock started to explain.

"We also wanted some candy along the way, you see, we never got to have Halloween candy as our own before." Shock added.

"Care to make a donation?" Barrel finished.

Felicity looked at them and smiled. She had heard of what adults do for children on Halloween and decided it would be best. She put a bunch of stools together in Jack and Sally's kitchen, climbed up on them and opened the top cupboard to see a big bag of candy. She reached, grabbed it, but fell backwards from clumsiness. Thankfully, she landed on a pillow that broke her fall.

"Sacre bleu, that was close!" Felicity breathed, standing on her feet and going to deliver candy to the trio. 

Lock, Shock, and Barrel kept their smiles and brightened up once they saw Felicity come back with the candy.

"Some for you, some for you, and some for you." Felicity poured candy into their bags making them evenly full. "What do you say?"

"Uhh... I dunno, what do we say?" Lock asked.

"When someone gives you something you want, you say merci, or in English, 'thank you'." Felicity instructed to them.

"Oh, okay." Lock sounded better.

"Thank, you!" Lock and Shock said together.

"Merci!" Barrel added, laughing a little. "Say, Felicity, you talk kinda funny... Where are you from anyway?"

"I am not exactly sure," Felicity shrugged. "My maman is American and my Papa is French, and spent most of his life in Province France. I am just like them, only I am not as good at French and English like my parents are naturally. I feel I should use both English and French to talk with them."

"Oh, okay, thanks again for the Halloween candy." Shock smiled. She even did something she never did with somebody before. She hopped into the door and hugged Felicity.

Lock and Barrel were very surprised by Shock's gesture. 

"Oh, umm... You are welcome, Choc." Felicity smiled sheepishly in the witch girl's grip.

Shock giggled and let go of Felicity. "We really appreciate it." She then turned to the boys. "What? Can't I hug a friend?"

"We just never saw you do it, we never hugged anybody!" Lock pointed out, still looking shocked.

Barrel nodded, silently.

Shock smirked and went to hug and kiss them. Both the boys gagged and Felicity laughed at the gestures.

"FLICK! BED! NOW!" Cherry sharply called from upstairs.

"I-I am coming!" Felicity called back, nervously. She then turned to her friends. "I am going to bed now, we will hang out more later, okay?"

"Okay, see you later, Flick." Shock waved.

"Goodbye, Flick!" Lock added.

"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!" Barrel finished, laughing.

Felicity frowned. "You do not want to be me?"

"Oh, no, it's a joke," Barrel explained. "People say it when they leave friends, but it's not mean, I promise."

"Oh, okay, au revior, guys." Felicity smiled and let them get home so she could get to bed. Felicity climbed into her bed and cuddled with her teddy bear.

Thomas came in to check on her. She was sound asleep by the time she slept in the guest bed. He then noticed her comforter was nearly all the way off her. He thought maybe she was tossing and turning a lot in the bed, and knocked it off. Thomas went over and tucked her in, making her feel warm and safe in the bed.

"Night, night, little Flick." Thomas whispered, now interested and looking out for his little sister. 

Felicity then formed a smile suddenly in her sleep, but didn't notice the gesture. 

Lock, Shock, and Barrel walked together, looking at their candy rewards. 

"Ooh, my favorite!" Barrel beamed once he took out a black lollipop with orange swirls. "What did you guys get?"

Lock rummaged through his pumpkin pail, taking out his favorite candy he earned from Felicity. "Red hot cinnamon gum!"

"I got a chocolate bar!" Shock smiled, nibbling at it already.

The trio couldn't believe it, they finally earned Halloween candy. They were really happy and good friends. They still knew that Halloween Town would hate them, they had to live somewhere else. But, where could they leave to? A bright white light flashed against them and they looked up to see the clouds spreading and opening up around them. The trio walked closer to it and found themselves floating. 

"What's happening to us?" Lock looked around.

"I don't know!" Shock cried, sounding scared.

Barrel screamed as they floated up and the clouds closed on them. Barrel still screamed once they came to a cloudy paradise. 

"Where are we?" Lock looked around.

"Better not be that Easter Town again." Shock shuddered, remembering they went there instead of Christmas Town for Santa Claus to kidnap into Halloween Town.

"Hello, my children..." a magical voice said to them.

Lock, Shock, and Barrel looked around. 

"Who said that and why are we dressed like this?" Lock asked, noticing they weren't in their Halloween costumes, but in white robes. 

"You're in a better place now..." a tall, thin woman with black hair like Shock reaching below her waist with a white skunk stripe and in a robe like them. She also had slime green eyes like Barrel and pointy teeth like Lock. "Do you remember me, children?"

The trio's eyes widened. "Mother!"

The woman smiled, picked them up at once and hugged them. "Oh, I missed you all so much... and now you're back... Luna, Samson, and Bradley..."

"Huh?" the kids asked at once.

"Our names with Lock, Shock, and Barrel." Lock clarified.

"Actually, your names are Luna, Samson, and Bradley," their mother told them. "I named you those names before I disappeared and was killed for my powers of goblins, witches, and devils. Oogie Boogie must have renamed you."

"Should we go by Luna, Samson, and Bradley then?" Barrel asked.

"You go by whatever you want, my children," their mother smiled. "I can understand though, you have been Lock, Shock, and Barrel for hundreds of years before. I'm just glad you're back in my grasp and we can be together before."

The kids smiled. "This is the best Halloween ever!" they cheered. 

The next night, the Forte family decided they should run along home. This has been quite enough of an adventure for one holiday. Forte and Felicity had some troubles this experience, but enjoyed their first Halloween and knew many more would come.

Cherry had always loved Halloween celebrating. And it was fun to meet characters like Jack Skellington, Sally, and Hexa and Miriam. Oogie was now long defeated and would never come back to haunt Halloween Town ever again. The creatures and citizens were saying goodbye to the family before they left back home to move on after the Halloween celebration. 

"Happy Holidays, Forte family!" the Skellington family called, waving.

"Happy Holidays, Jack." Cherry said to herself.

"Au revior, everyone!" Felicity waved cheerfully.

Even Thomas got back in the spirit and carried his younger half-sister.

Forte wrapped his arms around Cherry's waist and felt the unborn child kick inside her womb. "Fiesty little devil, are we?" he whispered to his unborn child.

Cherry hummed and walked along. "I hope it doesn't scar too much once the baby's born."

Felicity looked frozen for a moment. She was going to be an older sister. All of this Halloween holiday madness and she was still getting a sibling. She just hoped the baby wouldn't steal too much of her parents' attention away from her. Even if Felicity was beyond eight and a half years old, she still acted like it. 

Finally, Cherry opened the Halloween Town door and led her family outside of it. The Halloween townspeople cheered and celebrated their victory against Oogie Boogie. The Pumpkin King and his family could now have restored peace. 

Cherry shut the door once her family was out and they went to their respective homes. Thomas went back to his place while Cherry and Forte walked Felicity to their home. Cherry now wondered if it would be safe to have the holiday again in Halloween Town or not. 

Felicity happily followed her parents. She then felt a rush of soothingly goosebump cold wind chill around her body. She turned and looked up to the clouds and saw Lock, Shock, and Barrel waving down at her with a woman she strongly assumed was their mother. She waved back at them and quickly caught up with her own family. It was a Happy Holiday after all.

The Forte family all each learned a very powerful lesson from each other during this crazy, messed up adventure. Maestro Forte learned that he must be more emotional with his family, Cherry learned that she must spend a lot more quality time with their daughter, even if she didn't want to have a child in the first place, Thomas learned to not be jealous of his half-sister because she was born from a loving man who he believed was his very biological father growing up, and Felicity will learn her lesson when the time comes. But she made something more important than a new experience or adventurous conquest. She learned to make and keep friends. And that was very important, especially when those kids are Lock, Shock, and Barrel. 

The End


End file.
